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VIRGINIA 

AND THE VIRGINIANS 


BY 


ELLIE MARCUS MARX * 


PRINCIPAL, HENRY CLAY AND JAMES BARRON HOPE SCHOOLS, 

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA 

AUTHOR OF “CITIZENSHIP—HISTORY AND CIVICS FOR 
NATURALIZATION,” “CITIZENSHIP TRAINING IN 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS” 


D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY 


BOSTON 


NEW YORK 


CHICAGO 


ATLANTA 


DALLAS 


SAN FRANCISCO 


LONDON 






CJ T^\ 2 ' 


Copyright, 1930, 

By Ellie Marcus Marx 

No part of this book may be reproduced 
in any form without written permission 
of the publisher. 


3 KO 



©CIA 32267 



AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
TO 

MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER 


INTRODUCTION 


The Committee of Eight of the American Historical Associa¬ 
tion recommended that the course of study in history for the 
intermediate elementary grades should cover the facts of primary 
significance in the development of the United States, these facts 
to be reduced to the lowest minimum compatible with tracing 
the development of the nation and so graded in content as to 
suit the age of the pupils. 

With this plan in view Virginia and the Virginians was 
written, the underlying theme being Virginia’s contribution to 
the history of the nation. From the great mass of Virginia’s 
historical material, it was much easier to decide what to include 
rather than what to omit. At times it has required courage to 
leave out certain persons and places. The author has selected those 
leaders and heroes, those facts and events of Virginia history 
that she thought would make the strongest appeal to the child’s 
imagination and would help to shape his ideals. Since this is to 
present to young children the constructive work of Virginia for 
the nation, neither wars nor battles have been fought. They have 
been mentioned as to cause and effect, but the details have been 
purposely omitted. As the child takes more advanced history, he 
will probably be required to study these episodes more inten¬ 
sively. The main purpose of Virginia and the Virginians is to 
have the boys and girls become acquainted with the great leaders 
of Virginia and the nation and at the same time to lay the 
foundation for further study. 

The subject matter in Virginia and the Virginians is organized 
as a series of large units centering round the main idea. The 
approach to this end has been by the method of analysis; for ex¬ 
ample, the history of Virginia, from the Settlement at James¬ 
town until the present time, has been divided into the great 
periods of her development. In each of these sections the intro¬ 
ductory chapter presents the story chronologically and is fol¬ 
lowed by biographical sketches of Virginians. 

The vocabulary has been checked with respect to the child’s 
ability to comprehend it, and the sentence structure is 1 so simple 


IV 


INTRODUCTION 


v 


that boys and girls of the intermediate grades will have no dif¬ 
ficulty in understanding and enjoying the book. 

The sets of games and measurements at the end of each section 
tend to develop interest in the subject matter and to test time- 
sense, place-tense, and acquaintanceship with personages and 
events. Those activities suggested for local history are recom¬ 
mended in order to promote knowledge, loyalty, and respect for 
places and people close by. Many of the activities are for the 
purpose of overbalancing teacher-activity by pupil-activity. 

Virginia and the Virginians has been tried by teachers of the 
intermediate grades, and this method of presenting Virginia’s 
story appealed to both teacher and pupil. This schoolroom test 
proved that children do get keen enjoyment from Virginia his¬ 
tory if the material is carefully selected and an ornate language 
screen is not set up between the child and the story. It was 
found that since these conditions have been met, Virginia and 
the Virginians can be used profitably by modified, normal, and 
accelerated groups of pupils. By omitting certain sketches that 
do not affect the continuity of the story, it can be used by a modi¬ 
fied group, and the supplementary material included in the vari¬ 
ous activities will give an accelerated class ample opportunity 
for further study. 

Grateful acknowledgment is made to teachers, pupils, and 
others who aided in the preparation of Virginia and the Vir¬ 
ginians, especially to Dr. James Tippett, formerly of the Lincoln 
School of Teachers College, Columbia University, and to Mr. 
E. S. Brinkley, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, and Dr. 
Beryl Parker, formerly Assistant Supervisor of Intermediate 
Grades, Norfolk, Virginia, for reading the manuscript and offer¬ 
ing constructive criticism. Acknowledgment is also made of the 
courtesy of Mrs. E. E. Samuels, Miss Grace Keeler, the Norfolk- 
Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, and the Virginia Chamber of 
Commerce in providing photographs which were used in illus¬ 
trating this book. 

Ellie Marcus Marx. 




CONTENTS 


PART I 

VIRGINIA A ROYAL COLONY 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Story op Settlement. 1 

II. The Old Dominion .10 

III. Nathaniel Bacon.19 

IV. Alexander Spottswood.25 

PART II 

THE INDIANS OF VIRGINIA 

V. Indian Traits and Customs.34 

VI. The Indian and the White Man .... 44 

VII. Powhatan.49 

VIII. Pocahontas.54 

PART III 

VIRGINIA COLONIAL LIFE 

IX. Colonial Plantations.61 

X. Colonial Customs.75 

XI. Colonial Institutions.83 

XII. Some Famous Colonial Homes and Churches 95 

PART IV 

VIRGINIA’S PART IN BUILDING THE NATION 

XIII. Independence and Union.107 

XIV. Patrick Henry.119 

XV. George Washington.126 

XVI. Thomas Jefferson.134 

XVII. James Madison.143 


vi 
















CONTENTS 


vii 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVIII. James Monroe.147 

XIX. John Paul Jones.154 

XX. Jack Jouett.159 

XXI. John Marshall.163 

PART V 

VIRGINIA’S PART IN OPENING THE WEST 

XXII. Pushing Back the Western Frontier . . 168 

XXIII. Pioneer Life.174 

XXIV. George Rogers Clark.182 

XXV. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark . 188 

XXVI. William Henry Harrison.197 

XXVII. Zachary Taylor.201 

XXVIII. Samuel Houston.205 

XXIX. Cyrus Hall McCormick.211 

PART VI 

VIRGINIA CARRYING ON 

XXX. Dark Days for Virginia and the Nation . 217 

XXXI. Henry Clay.227 

XXXII. Robert Edward Lee.232 

XXXIII. Matthew Fontaine Maury.237 

XXXIV. Moses Ezekiel.242 

XXXV. Walter Reed.246 

PART VII 

VIRGINIA MAKING STRIDES 

XXXVI. Beauty and Historical Interest of Vir¬ 
ginia . 252 

XXXVII. Virginia Government.266 

XXXVIII. Virginia Industries.272 

XXXIX. Virginia Schools.278 

XL. Woodrow Wilson.280 

XLI. Richard Evelyn Byrd.284 
























Old Lighthouse at Cape Henry 







PART 1—VIRGINIA A ROYAL COLONY 


CHAPTER I 

THE STORY OF SETTLEMENT 

The story of our nation begins with the land¬ 
ing at Jamestown, May 13, 1607, of the group 
of men sent to the New World hy the London 
Company. With brave hearts and daring spirit 
they brought a new order of life into the red 
man’s land. They brought England—her laws, 
her church, her manners, her customs, and her 
natural love of freedom. 

This was not the first company that England 
had sent to settle in the New World. Some years 
before, Sir Walter Raleigh, a favorite of Queen 
Elizabeth, fitted out a party and sent it to this 
new land. After suffering much at sea, this com¬ 
pany landed at Roanoke Island, off the coast of 
what is now North Carolina. The settlers made 
friends with the Indians and named the country 
Virginia for their virgin queen, Elizabeth. 

It was not long before food and clothing be¬ 
came scarce, and the governor of the little band 
i 


2 


VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


had to go back to England for more supplies. 
When he sailed away, to show his faith in the 
colony, he left his little granddaughter, Virginia 
Dare, with them. 

The trip was a stormy one and took a long 
time. When Governor White returned to Roan¬ 
oke Island, he could not find a white person. 
Little Virginia Dare had disappeared with the 
rest of the colony. The word “Croatan” was 
deeply carved in the bark of an old oak tree, hut 
it meant nothing to any one. They searched the 
island, but could find no signs of the colony. 
Some thought that they had died of hunger, and 
others believed that the Indians had killed them. 
The searchers became so disheartened that they 
sailed back home. 

It was not until the settlement was made at 
Jamestown in 1607 that the English nation 
gained a foothold in the New World. Many of 
the men who came over with this London com¬ 
pany were sons of England’s first families. More 
than half of them were the younger sons of 
noblemen whose bravery and wisdom had helped 
to make England. When the London Company 
was formed to send a group of men to the New 
World, young Englishmen like these were eager 
to go. They left their comfortable homes to come 


THE STORY OF SETTLEMENT 3 

in search of gold and to find a short route to 
East India. 

Captain Christopher Newport was admiral of 
the fleet of three vessels named the Discovery, 
the Sarah Constant, and the Godspeed. It was 
midwinter when these three sailing vessels 
carrying one hundred and three stout-hearted 
Englishmen sailed down the Thames and into 
the Atlantic Ocean. A stormy four months fol¬ 
lowed. The winds, snow, and ice brought dis¬ 
couragement to all aboard. At times some of the 
men wished to return home, but with boats 
almost beyond repair they sailed on. On April 
26, 1607, they saw land! 

This land was a cape, which they called 
Henry, for the king’s son. The old lighthouse 
at Cape Henry is said to have been built on the 
spot where these Englishmen first stepped on 
American soil. It was here that they thanked 
God for their safe arrival and prayed for his 
guidance and protection in this new land. 

At Cape Henry the men saw a sand waste that 
looked like a desert, and sand dunes—one almost 
as high as a mountain. There was plenty of sea 
food, but vegetables, berries, and grain were 
scarce. They knew that they had to find a better 
place for their new home. 

The men went back to their little boats. They 


4 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


sailed through the entrance to the Chesapeake 
Bay, across Hampton Roads, and up the James 
River to found an English settlement in Amer¬ 
ica. They cruised for two weeks before they 
came to a place afterwards called Jamestown. 



Air View of Jamestown 


It was not strange that they thought this beau¬ 
tiful peninsula the ideal place in which to settle. 
About it all washed the quiet waters of the 
James. The dogwood trees were in blossom; fish, 
deer, wild duck, and sora were plentiful; the 
air was fragrant with the odor of wild flowers 
and pine trees. It was spring in Virginia, and 




THE STORY OF SETTLEMENT 5 

to these tired men it must have seemed like 
another Garden of Eden. 

This band of men patterned a new England 
after the old England. Through many trials of 
body, mind, and soul, they overcame sickness, 
starvation, and savages, to hand down to us the 
foundation of our country’s law, that all men 
are born free and equal. 

Years passed, bringing some joy but much 
more of sorrow to the Jamestown settlers. If 
the land had only been as healthful as it was 
beautiful, the struggles would have been fewer 
for them, but the colonists soon found that there 
were no fresh water springs and that the land 
was marshy. 

Of the one hundred and three men who came 
with Admiral Newport, not one was a skilled 
workman. “Gentlemen” and laborers alike went 
to work cutting down trees to make a clearing 
for their log-cabin homes. They made friends 
with the Indians, who showed them how to raise 
corn, potatoes, and tobacco. 

Many of the men were disappointed and dis¬ 
couraged. They had crossed the ocean in search 
of gold and found, instead, suffering, illness, 
and the savage Indians. By September there 
were only forty-six men living of those who had 
landed at Jamestown in May. 


6 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


Added to the illness and death in the colony 
was the disaster of the failure of the crops. With 
so much trouble at hand, the colonists began to 
quarrel among themselves. They threw aside all 
the rules of guidance set down by the London 



Captain John Smith 


Company. It seemed as if this English settle¬ 
ment would be lost. Out of all this band there 
was one man who had the experience to save 
the colony, to become their leader. That man was 
Captain John Smith. 

They made Smith their governor and looked 
to him for protection and direction. He knew 
what to do, did it quickly, acted wisely, dealt 





THE STORY OF SETTLEMENT 


7 


justly with all. Smith did not know fear, and it 
was not long before he let the Indians find this 
out. The red men did not like it when they found 
that the white men meant to stay at Jamestown. 
It was necessary for the settlers to have some 
one on guard all the time. This was bad enough 
during the day, hut lying on the marshy ground 
at night added to the sickness. It was a dreadful 
summer. 

When the cool days of early fall came, every¬ 
body was more encouraged. Those who were ill 
became stronger. John Smith had never lost 
courage. He was never idle, but was always plan¬ 
ning some way in which to help those poor men 
so far away from home. Some of the men were 
ill, but others were too lazy to till the soil for 
their own food. Smith made them understand 
that those who would not work could not eat. 
It was not long before every one was using ax, 
hoe, or hammer. 

Everything seemed brighter. Other men had 
come to join the Jamestown settlers. All were 
clearing and building, and the Indians had be¬ 
come easier in their dealings. Smith made many 
trips up the coast to trade with the natives. He 
knew that the colonists had to get food from the 
Indians until the white men learned to help 
themselves in this new land. 


8 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

One day while Smith was out on an exploring 
trip, a hag of gunpowder in his boat caught tire, 
and he was burned so badly that he had to be 
sent back to England. This was painful enough 
for Smith, but worse for the colony. They had 
lost their leader whom they loved, feared, and 
respected. 

With Captain Smith out of the settlement, the 
Indians became more and more unfriendly. The 
crops had failed again, and the Indians refused 
to trade with the white men. Before winter was 
over, there was no food in the storehouse, and 
many of the men starved to death. Others tried 
to live on roots and herbs, but ended by eating 
their own dogs and horses. The few men who 
lived did not have strength to clear the forests, 
to build houses, to till the soil, to tame wild ani¬ 
mals, and to protect themselves from their sav¬ 
age neighbors. This time of hardship almost put 
an end to the English colony in America. 

Just as life seemed blackest for the James¬ 
town colony, a ship came from England bring¬ 
ing more men, but very little food. When these 
men saw how ill the colonists were, they decided 
to go back to England. The little band of sick and 
disappointed settlers planned to go with them. 
Everything was in readiness to put to sea, when 
the new governor came. He had with him two 


9 


THE STORY OF SETTLEMENT 

ships loaded with men and food. Again the 
Jamestown colonists were saved to make an Eng¬ 
lish settlement in America. 

With the food, the governor brought them re¬ 
newed courage and some new laws. To each set¬ 
tler he gave three acres of land. Each man had 
to put six bushels of corn in the storehouse every 
year, but otherwise he could do as he wished 
with his crop. This plan worked well, for it made 
the lazy man get busy. He knew that if he did 
not work, he would starve. 


CHAPTER II 


THE OLD DOMINION 

Life at Jamestown came to be healthier and 
happier. The colonists had given up the thought 
of finding gold and were fast becoming good 
farmers. They needed more men to take care of 
the crops. When this wish became known in 
England, the company sent over another kind of 
settlers. Men who had been put in jail because 
they could not pay their bills were allowed to 
come to the New World to work off their debt. 
Many of these men were glad to leave the prison 
walls and to come to Virginia. While they were 
paying their bills, they were helping to make 
better crops for the Virginia colony. 

A short time passed, and the planters were 
helped in still another way. A Dutch sailing ves¬ 
sel that brought Negroes from Africa landed in 
Virginia (1619). The colonists gladly bought 
these men to work on their sunny plantations. 

After the colonists had made themselves at 
home in Virginia, they asked the London Com¬ 
pany for more privileges. These were granted 
10 


THE OLD DOMINION ll 

from time to time. In the year 1619 the king 
sent another charter to the eleven settlements 
in Virginia. It gave them the right to choose two 
men from each settlement to help the royal gov¬ 
ernor make the laws for the colony. 

Each man now owned his own lands and took 
a part in governing the colony. His next wish 
was for a home. 

For the second time the London Company 
sent over a new kind of cargo. Ninety young 
women came to be the brides of the settlers. They 
lifted many burdens from the shoulders of the 
men and added much to their comfort and happi¬ 
ness. 

With new courage the men went to work. They 
built their homes on both banks of the James 
River all the way from Hampton to Henrico. 
Soon they were raising large crops of tobacco 
and cotton, which they shipped to England. 

Peace between the Indians and settlers grew 
deeper as the years passed. The Indians be¬ 
came guides to their paleface friends and taught 
them the secrets of the forests. The white men 
showed their friendship by letting the Indians 
use their boats for carrying fruits, fish, turkeys, 
and venison. The favorite daughter of a great 
Indian chief had married one of the settlers. As 


12 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

long as Chief Powhatan lived, there was peace 
between the Indians and the colonists. 

But Powhatan passed into his happy hunting 
ground. The new chief was Namiittariow. The 
settlers called him Jack of the Feather from the 
small feathers he wore in his hair. The Indians 



Jamestown in 1622 


feared this chief and believed that nothing could 
harm him. 

When ISTamattanow was killed by a colonist, 
the massacre of 1622 started. 

Opechancanough, chief of all Virginia Indi¬ 
ans, planned this way to get even for the loss 
of Namattanow. He had his tribes everywhere 
fall npon the settlers at the same hour. The high¬ 
est officers and the poorest servants were mas¬ 
sacred. The entire colony might have gone but 
for the faithfulness of an Indian boy named 


THE OLD DOMINION 


13 


Chanco. He told the plan to Richard Payne of 
Surry, with whom he lived. The governor was 
informed in time for some of the settlers to be 
ready for the attack. It was due to the goodness, 
the friendship, the bravery of this Indian boy 
that the Jamestown colony was saved. 

After this massacre the colonists and the In¬ 
dians knew that they could never live together 
in peace. From that hour the whites declared 
war upon the natives. They planned to drive 
them so far away that they could do no further 
harm to the white man of tidewater Virginia. 

Years passed in which the Virginia colony 
grew and prospered. Men had come to the new 
land not only in search of gold but to escape bad 
government at home. The people here had had 
good governors and a part in making their own 
laws. They had forgotten their first reason for 
coming to America and had become great Vir¬ 
ginia planters. Through many difficulties they 
had made Virginia a thriving English colony. 
But this was changed when the royal governor 
wanted much more than the honor of governing 
the colony at Jamestown. He invited the Indians 
to trade with him. 

For a few bright-colored beads or a drink of 
firewater, Berkeley bought their furs, which he 
shipped to England. As the trade grew between 


14 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

them, the red men boldly came back to tidewater. 
In their trail there was always fire and blood¬ 
shed. 

Time after time the colonists asked Governor 
Berkeley to grant them permission to push the 
Indians beyond the mountains. He refused, and 
did not even try to protect their lives and prop¬ 
erty from the savages. 

After the settlers had suffered many cruel 
raids, they decided to help themselves, if the 
governor would not help them. Nathaniel Bacon, 
a wealthy Cavalier of Curl’s Neck, led the 
planters against the red men. Berkeley was 
angry because they dared to disobey him, but 
Bacon’s party went on, determined to run the 
red men back into the mountains. 

These brave men had dared to go against the 
wishes of a royal governor. Once on this road, 
they did not stop until the governor sought 
safety on the Eastern Shore and Jamestown was 
burned to the ground. Had it not been for the 
death of the leader, Nathaniel Bacon, the rebel¬ 
lion of 1676 might have ended very differently. 

With Bacon dead, the revolt ended. Berkeley 
came back to Jamestown and punished many of 
those planters who were with Bacon. When the 
king of England heard how unjust the governor 
had been to the settlers, he called him home. For 


THE OLD DOMINION 15 

another century Virginia was a loyal royal col¬ 
ony of England. 

Three times the settlers tried to rebuild James¬ 
town, but each time it was burned. Then the 
capital was removed from Jamestown to Middle 
Plantation, which they later called Williams¬ 
burg, for the king. With this change, better days 
for the colonists began. 

The happiest and most prosperous time of the 
English colony in Virginia was from 1710 to 
1760. Williamsburg was indeed a very gay little 
capital. The governor gave many grand parties. 
He and his family wore their royal robes, and 
everybody else had to dress up, too. The ladies 
wore hoop skirts, beautiful satin and lace gowns, 
and the men wore velvet knee breeches, satin 
coats, and lace frills. All the people there dressed 
to fit their offices. The clergymen wore black 
robes; the judges, scarlet. The students of Wil¬ 
liam and Mary dressed in college gowns, and 
the laborers wore red flannel shirts, buckskin 
breeches and leather aprons. 

Music, laughter, and hospitality were every¬ 
where. Life at Williamsburg was gay, but it had 
its serious side, too. From the time that Mid¬ 
dle Plantation became Williamsburg, all the 
business for the colony of Virgina was carried 
on there. Although three thousand miles of water 


16 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

separated Virginia from the mother country, she 
was the Old Dominion. 

By this time there were other colonies on the 
Atlantic Coast. Some of these settlements had 
been made by other nations, but had fallen under 
English rule. 

It was natural, then, that the joys and sor¬ 
rows of England were shared by her colonists. 
When France claimed the same land in America 
that England had, the colonists were glad to 
fight to hold it. 

The royal governor sent for George Washing¬ 
ton to come to Williamsburg, the capital of Vir¬ 
ginia. He was given orders to lead the colonists to 
the assistance of the English commander, and 
he did so. It was due to Washington and his men 
that the English were successful against the 
French. The colonists were happy to continue to 
be a country governed by England. 

However, from that time there was a change 
in America as well as in England. England had a 
great debt. This war with the French and the In¬ 
dians, like all others, cost the lives of loyal men 
and much money. The money debt had to be 
paid. The people were taxed so much that the 
colonists did not think it was right. 

Since 1619 Virginia had had a part in her 
law-making. As other colonists settled in Amer- 


THE OLD DOMINION 


17 



Monument Commemorating the Surrender of 
Cornwallis at Yorktown 
Erected by the Federal Government at a cost of $250,000 







18 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


ica, they had the same rights as Virginia. When 
this burden of taxation was put upon them, they 
told the mother country what they thought about 
it. A stubborn king would not listen, and the re¬ 
sult was the Revolution. 

Bacon’s rebellion in 1676 against an unjust 
governor was followed a hundred years later by 
one against the king. 

George Washington was put in command of 
the American army. The war raged from 1776 
to 1781, when the British Commander, Cornwal¬ 
lis, surrendered to Washington at Yorktown, 
Virginia. It was here in the cradle of the colony 
that the last battle for independence was fought 
and won. 

The colonists were no longer a part of Eng¬ 
land. It was the birthday of a great republic, the 
United States of America. 


CHAPTER III 


NATHANIEL BACON 
1648-1676 

Times had changed. The colonies that Eng¬ 
land had planted in the New World were happy 
and prosperous, while the mother country had 
fallen upon hard days. 

For many hundreds of years people in all 
lands believed that their kings were always 
right. When a king told them to go to war, they 
gladly fought and died for him. Just as they 
went to war to fight to make the country larger 
and richer, they paid taxes to give the royal 
f amil y jewels and big castles. Never once did 
they question the king’s right. But there came a 
time when a group of Englishmen did not think 
that the king could do no wrong. They thought 
that they should be loyal and true to the king 
only as long as the king was loyal and true to 
them. It caused a great stir. Everybody took 

19 


20 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


sides either for or against the king. His fol¬ 
lowers were called Cavaliers because they were 
faithful, loyal, and true to 
the king, as their fathers 
had been. The party against 
him came to be known as 
Roundheads. They got this 
name from the way in which 
they had their hair trimmed. 
For a while the Roundheads 
took charge of the govern¬ 
ment. They condemned one 
king to death, forced his son 
to leave England, and made 
war on the Cavaliers. 

It was at this time that 
An English Cavalier many Englishmen left their 
native land to seek safety 
and happiness in Virginia. With these Cavaliers 
came Nathaniel Bacon and his wife. The colo¬ 
nists liked the young planter. They found him 
to be polite, unselfish, thoughtful, and kind to 
every one. 

Bacon went up the James River and shared 
with the Byrds the large tract of land from 
Curl’s Neck to Richmond. He was a rich man 
and from the first was helpful in trying to plant 




NATHANIEL BACON 21 

the seeds of old England so that it wonld live 
again in Virginia. 

When Bacon and other Cavaliers came to set¬ 
tle in the New World, William Berkeley was 
governor of Virginia. He was very selfish and 



Nathaniel Bacon and Governor Berkeley 


wished to use the colonists for his own benefit. 
He did not realize that most of the Virginians 
were here because they would not be dictated to 
by the Roundheads in England. 

Berkeley found out that he could greatly add 
to his wealth if he would trade in furs with the 
red men. From time to time the Indians had 





22 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


caused the colonists much trouble. After they 
formed this business partnership with the white 
man’s governor, they broke their treaties with 
the colonists. Was not Berkeley their friend and 
business partner? Living so far apart, it was 
hard for the colonists to guard themselves 
against the red men. Often a whole family would 
be killed while the owner tried to get help from 
his next neighbor. 

The colonists begged the governor to take some 
hand in holding the Indians in check. He paid 
no attention to them. He loved trading with the 
Indians better than he did the welfare of the 
Virginia colony. 

After the governor refused to help them pro¬ 
tect their lives and property, Bacon said, “ Very 
well, then, we will help ourselves.” 

Bacon called his neighbors together. With a 
great shout the colonists chose Bacon to lead 
them against the enemy who killed their families 
and burned their crops. 

Before they tired a shot, Nathaniel Bacon 
went to Governor Berkeley and again asked for 
his permission to go against the Indians. The 
governor refused again, and then Bacon and his 
little party went anyway. 

When Governor Berkeley heard that Bacon 
had chased the Indians out of the nearby forests, 


NATHANIEL BACON 


23 


he was very angry. How did these men dare to go 
against his orders! This was a rebellion. He 
would see that the rebels were punished for dis¬ 
obeying him. But when he found that many of 
the colonists sided with Bacon, he promised to 
help them against their savage enemy. 

Bacon was glad to have the governor’s good 
will. He went to Jamestown and apologized for 
marching against the Indians without the gover¬ 
nor’s consent. 

Berkeley did not live up to his part of the 
agreement. Bacon then drew up his forces in the 
public square and forced the governor to consent 
to the colonists’ crushing the Indians. As soon 
as they left Jamestown, Berkeley raised an army 
to defeat Bacon and his followers. When Bacon 
heard this news, he did not give up. He saw his 
duty to the colonists and went right ahead, this 
time against both Berkeley, the royal governor 
of his king, and the savages. It was the first time 
that the colonists had taken arms against a gov¬ 
ernor that they might get better government. 

They marched to Jamestown. The governor’s 
troops were ready to fight, but not a shot was 
fired. Why ? On the way down, Bacon took pris¬ 
oner the wife of every planter in the governor’s 
troop. When they came to Jamestown, they 
placed these women in the front row while they 


24 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

dug their trenches. Of course, they knew that 
the men would not fire on their own wives. The 
women were safe, and it gave Bacon time to 
make ready. The next day a battle did take place. 
Berkeley fled from Jamestown. The town was 
burned to the ground. Only the steeple of the old 
church was left. 

Tired in body and mind, Nathaniel Bacon be¬ 
came ill with fever. In less than a month after 
the burning of Jamestown, this great leader was 
dead, and Bacon’s Rebellion came to an end. The 
colonists of Virginia had learned to demand thei 
rights and privileges from an unwilling royal 
governor. 


CHAPTER IV 


ALEXANDER SPOTTSWOOD 
1676-1740 

About one hundred years after Jamestown 
was settled, Alexander Spottswood was sent 
over by the king to be the royal governor of 
Virginia. He was about thirty years old. Spotts¬ 
wood had had much experience before he came 
here, which helped him no little. 

He was born on board a ship while his father 
and mother were on the Mediterranean Sea. His 
father was in command of the ship, and Alexan¬ 
der learned to love the sea when he was very 
young. There was not much about either a ship 
or the sea that he did not know. He could tell 
about the terrible animals that lived in the water 
and the awful pirates that sailed about the world 
to get the gold belonging to others. A few years 
before he came to Virginia, he had been a brave, 
loyal soldier in the English army. 

When the king looked about for a royal gov¬ 
ernor to send to Virginia, he knew that no one 

25 


26 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

would be better than Spottswood. He was young, 
strong, ready to face dangers, and interested in 
the new land across the ocean. The king made a 
very good decision, for at all times Spottswood 
proved himself to be a worthy colonist. There 
was not much he did not do to make the people 
happy and contented. 

The capital had been moved to Williamsburg 
when he came, and the College of William and 
Mary opened. Spottswood built a tine house for 
the governor. He sent word to the Indians that 
they could send their boys to school at William 
and Mary without charge. Williamsburg was 
the capital, and it needed some protection. He 
had a magazine built, a place to hold gunpow¬ 
der. This was kept tilled in case of war. The colo¬ 
nists were beginning to feel stronger with such 
a brave man as their leader. 

Virginians were still sending to England for 
everything. Although they spent their lives on 
farms and made their living from tilling the soil, 
they had to send to England for plows, axes, 
and many other things used on a farm. They had 
to have these things, and the people in England 
made them pay very dearly for them. 

Governor Spottswood did not like to see the 
settlers pay such big prices for little things like 
axes, hammers, or other things made of iron. He 


ALEXANDER SPOTTSWOOD 


27 



Powder Horn Erected by Governor Spottswood 



28 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


showed these people how to get iron out of the 
soil of Virginia. A large furnace was built, and 
the soil was heated red hot. The heat melted the 
iron and made it leave the earth and stone. Then 
it was clean and ready to be used. Many large 
furnaces were built, for much iron was needed by 
the Virginians. No longer did the colonists have 
to send to England and pay such high prices for 
anything made of iron. 

At that time there were pirates sailing the 
waters everywhere. The people still believed that 
gold was to be found on the Virginia coast; so 
many pirates came here. 

One of the most noted of these pirates was 
called Blackbeard. He was a cruel, mean, fight¬ 
ing man. To get a treasure, he did not stop at 
anything from torturing his prisoners to mak¬ 
ing them 61 walk a plank.” His men would place 
a plank across the edge of the ship and make the 
prisoner walk along it blindfolded into the sea. 

This terrible old man got his name of Black- 
beard from his heavy black hair which hung all 
over his face and neck. He cruised up and down 
the coast with his vessel flying a black flag with 
a skull and crossbones. This flag waving in the 
breeze was enough to make one turn cold with 
fear. Blackbeard put his ship into port and held 
up all vessels coming and going. The only way 


ALEXANDER SPOTTSWOOD 29 

to get free from this cruel pirate was to pay him 
great sums of money. 

For some time Blackbeard had given the peo¬ 
ple of Virginia and Carolina a great deal of 
trouble. Governor Spottswood soon put an end 
to old Blackbeard. He sent Lieutenant Maynard 
in the Pearl, a ship of war, to attack the pirate 
ship. Blackbeard saw what was coming and fired 
a broadside at the Pearl. Under cover of the 
heavy smoke, the Virginians boarded the pirate 
ship. There was hand-to-hand fighting, and it 
looked as though Blackbeard would win. But he 
slipped and fell on the deck, and the enemy 
captured him. He and his followers were taken 
to Williamsburg for trial and were sentenced to 
death. Blackbeard did not tell where his treas¬ 
ures were buried. Some people say they are at 
the bottom of Mulberry Island in the York 
River. Anyway, no one has ever found the treas¬ 
ure chests with bags of gold and silver hidden by 
Blackbeard. 

Governor Spottswood began to think of the 
great country beyond the Blue Ridge. People 
called all the country from these mountains to 
the Pacific, Orange County. They thought the 
Mississippi, the Father of Waters, rose in the 
Blue Ridge. Governor Spottswood made up his 
mind that he would find out what was there. For 


30 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

a hundred years the foothills of the mountains 
had been the frontier of Virginia. Few people 
knew about the country beyond the Blue Ridge. 
Hunters had returned to tell about the thick 
forest, high mountains, crafty Indians, and wild 
animals. More people were settling in Virginia 
all the time, and the governor thought that he 
ought to find out more about the land. 

It was his daring, courage, and sense of duty 
that took him on this trip. He thought he might 
as well enjoy the trip as he went; so he invited 
all the planters of Virginia to go with him on 
this hunting trip beyond the mountains. They 
took their servants with them, who brought food 
and drink. The start was made from Germania, 
the summer home of the governor. The party 
was in high spirits and enjoyed everything on 
the two weeks’ trip. From the top of the moun¬ 
tain at Elkton Governor Spottswood and his 
friends looked down on the beautiful Shenan¬ 
doah Valley. Perhaps it was the first time that 
the eye of white man had seen the valley called 
Daughter of the Stars by the red man. They 
named the two peaks Mount George for the king 
of England and Mount Alexander for Spotts¬ 
wood. 

High up in the mountains they formed a so¬ 
ciety that the governor called Knights of the 


ALEXANDER SPOTTSWOOD 


31 


Golden Horseshoe. Why do you think they had 
such a name ? When this party started out, they 
had forgotten, at first, to put shoes on the 
horses. The sandy beaches of tidewater did not 
hurt the horses’ hoofs, and as iron was scarce, 
horses did not often have shoes. But all the 
horses and mules had to have shoes to go over 
the mountains. Governor Spottswood had given 
each of his knights a beautiful gold horseshoe as 
a sign that he had been a member of the royal 
party which had first crossed over the frontiers 
of Virginia. It was not long before the land was 
settled and there were new frontiers to conquer. 

Spottswood went about helping the colonists 
to help themselves. He was stern, too, and peo¬ 
ple knew that he expected every one to obey the 
laws. During the time that he was governor, the 
Virginia settlement spent one of the happiest 
periods as a royal colony. 


32 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


Games You May Like to Play 
Game I 

Complete these sentences so that they state historical 
facts. Each correct sentence counts 2. 

1. Sir Walter Raleigh named the land-in honor 

of the virgin queen, Elizabeth of England. 

2. The London Company sent their men to the New 

World in three boats named the -, the 

-, and the- 

3. They landed at-April 26, 1607. 

4. They returned to their boats and sailed to-, 

where they settled May 13, 1607. 

5. These men came to America in search of- 

6. The company had many a setback because the land 

was- 

7. Sickness came among them and nearly all-of 

malaria fever. 

8. In England, people were put in-if they did 

not pay their- 

9. The prisons were crowded, and some of these men 

were-to-to work off their debt. 

10. The Virginians rebelled against the royal governor 

in-, when he would not let them defend them¬ 

selves against the red men. 

11. Before-was the colonial capital, it was called 

Middle Plantation. 

12. Money was sent from England to support - 

College. 

13. The Indians-the settlers in 1622. 

The highest possible score is 26; the lowest, 0. 



















THINGS TO DO 33 

Game II 

Choose the right date for each event and write it on 


the same line. A correct match counts 2. 

1. Founding of Jamestown 1676 

2. The landing of the women 1640 

3. The beginning of the House of Burgesses 1781 

4. Negro slaves brought into Virginia 1676 

5. Indian Massacre 1607 

6. Coming of the Cavaliers 1619 

7. Rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon 1619 

8. Surrender at Yorktown 1620 

Things You May Like to Do 


1. Make a floor scene. Show the three boats at Cape 
Henry and the meeting of the white men with the 
Indians. 

2. Dramatize the landing of the women in Virginia and 
the forming of the first House of Burgesses. 

3. Make a series of posters to tell the story of early 
English settlements in Virginia. 

4. Build a model of Duke of Gloucester Street, Wil¬ 
liamsburg, when it was the capital of Virginia. 

5. Make a collection of pictures of people and places of 
the early settlement. 

6. Visit the first settlement in your county. 

7. Take an automobile trip to Jamestown, Williamsburg, 
and Yorktown. 

8. Draw a map of tidewater Virginia, showing his¬ 
torical places' and homes. 

9. Write poems about the Old Dominion. 

10. Search through your library for interesting stories 
about the Cavaliers. Tell these stories to your class. 


PART II—THE INDIANS OF VIRGINIA 


CHAPTER V 

INDIAN TRAITS AND CUSTOMS 

Who were these copper-colored people that 
the white man found when he discovered the 
New World? No one knows whence they came, 
but there are many legends about them. Many 
have said that the Indians were wild and cruel, 
that they gave pain to man and beast just to 
see them suffer. Others, who have lived among 
them, say that there are good Indians and bad 
Indians, as is the case with any other people. In 
fact, the Indian has every right to be proud of 
his race. Long before the idea of freedom and 
equal rights was a part of the white man’s civi¬ 
lization, the red man practiced it. 

The white man should have been his friend, 
but proved to be his greatest foe. He took his 
lands and gave him a taste for drink which could 
only make him a brute. The civilization that 
should have brought much good to him proved to 
be his undoing. The Indians living on govern- 

34 


INDIAN TRAITS AND CUSTOMS 35 


ment reservations, for the most part, are not the 
brave, honest, fearless, independent people their 
ancestors were, who roamed the country at will 
when America was theirs. 

When Columbus discovered the New World 



An Indian Village 


in 1492, the trouble began. The Indians who wel¬ 
comed him and his men were shipped as slaves 
to Spain. A few years later another explorer, 
Balboa, visited this country. He wrote home, 
“ Where once the Indians were like sheep, they 





36 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


have now become like fierce lions. They have 
gained so much daring. They used to come out 
of the paths to welcome the white man; now they 
come out to kill him. This change came about 
on account of the bad things which the captains 
of exploring ships have done to them.” 

Spain was not the only guilty nation. Greed 
for gold sent Frenchmen, Englishmen, Portu¬ 
guese across the seas. They knew that in order 
to get what they wanted they must master the 
red man. This mastery was often accomplished 
by deceit and trickery. The palefaces took the 
lands and drove the red men from their hunting 
grounds. An old warrior said: “We are driven 
back until we can retreat no further. Our hat¬ 
chets are broken, our bows are snapped, our fires 
are nearly out. A little longer and the white man 
will not persecute us—for there will be no more 
of us.” It may or may not be true that the In¬ 
dian was cruel and deceitful by nature. These 
are traits of character that belong to any bar¬ 
barous people. One thing is certain: the white 
man could have helped him to better things. 

Religion is something that seems to be born 
in every one. The wildest savages feel that there 
is some power greater than their own. The In¬ 
dians, like other wild people, believed in a 


INDIAN TRAITS AND CUSTOMS 37 


“Great Spirit,” and their idea of a future life 
was a “Happy Hunting Ground.” 

The Indian thought that all nature was a part 
of the Great Spirit. He worshipped the sun, 
moon, and st*ars, the mountains, and the rivers. 
By means of thunder, sun, moon, stars, the four 
winds, the Great Spirit made known his will. 
The Indian thought that the birds, flying high 
in the air, were the messengers of the winds, 
and that the snake was a messenger of the light¬ 
ning as it darted through the clouds. There were 
many signs and symbols, good and evil powers, 
spirits of good and bad luck, dreams and spells. 

Each tribe had a “medicine man.” They 
thought he had power to drive away pains and 
evil powers. No red man was ever sick, as we 
know sickness. Illness was always a spell that 
had come over him. Either his god was angry 
with him for something he had or had not done, 
or an enemy had cast the spell. Only the medi¬ 
cine man, with herbs, songs, and dances, could 
free him of it. 

Animals were spirits. The antelope was the 
spirit of peace; the grizzly bear, of war. Bird 
and beast became family gods. Each tribe had its 
own god. They carved this figure in wood and 
carried it about with them. This token became 
their guardian spirit. 


38 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


The Indian did not fear death. He believed in 
a future life. He thought that he would enter the 
Happy Hunting Ground and could fish and hunt 

to his heart’s con¬ 
tent. There would al¬ 
ways be plenty of 
game and fish. His 
dog, hatchet, and 
bow and arrow were 
buried with him be¬ 
cause he would need 
them on the long, 
happy hunt. 

All these Indian 
tribes did not live in 
the same way. Some 
seem to have been 
smarter than others, 
and these had better homes. When the white 
man found America, some Indians lived in dirt 
holes, others had wigwams, stone houses, or long 
arbors for homes. 

There were tribes who spent their time fish¬ 
ing and hunting, living on wild game and ber¬ 
ries. Whenever they found a stream that suited 
their fancy, they set up their wigwams. The cov¬ 
ering for the tent was made of skins and the 
bark of trees. An opening was left for the door, 








INDIAN TRAITS AND CUSTOMS 39 


over which they hung a great bearskin. In the 
winter a large fire burned in the middle of the 
tent, and a hole was left open to let the smoke 
out. This tire kept them warm and gave light. 
They had no furniture and slept on the ground, 
wrapped in skins. 

The Indians of Virginia lived in long, low 
houses covered with bark. A hall went down the 
middle of the house, and there were rooms on 
both sides. A room was given to each family, but 
every four families could have a large fireplace 
in the long hall. These Indians did their share of 
hunting and fishing, but they also tilled a small 
piece of ground. The land itself was common 
property. When the white settlers tried to bar¬ 
gain with the red man for the land, the Indian 
could not understand. Sell a country! Why not 
sell the air, the clouds, and the great sea as well 
as the earth ? It was not to be sold. 

In the winter the Virginia Indian threw a 
large deerskin over his shoulder, and another 
piece he drew across his hips. In the summer 
these garments were made from the fiber of 
plants. The moccasins were made of deerskin. 
The great warriors decorated themselves with 
belts, necklaces, and bracelets made of sea-shells. 

The squaw was the head of the household. She 
worked the garden, cooked the food, and took 


40 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


care of the family. Her life was a busy one. She 
worked the ground with a hoe made of a deer’s 
horn or the shoulder blade of a buffalo. Then 
she planted the crop of corn, beans, and pump¬ 
kins. She kept the weeds down in her garden. 
When the grain was ripe, she ground it into 
corn meal. Perhaps she had to carry water; cer¬ 
tainly she cut the wood for the tire. The skins 
had to be tanned before they could be used, and 
it was she who did it. She made the clay dishes 
and wove the blankets. Unless she was working 



Wampum Belt 


in the cornfield, she carried her baby in a padded 
deerskin bag on her back. When she was in the 
sun, the papoose hung upon the branch of a tree. 
You must have heard the song, “Rock-a-bye 
Baby on the Tree Top.” This song came from 
the Indian custom. The wind rocked the baby 
hanging on the tree top. It kept the baby quiet as 
the mother worked. 

The squaw did all this toiling because she 
wanted to. She did it to give her husband or her 
son the time he needed to become the brave hero, 









INDIAN TRAITS AND CUSTOMS 41 

the great warrior. As she did these things that 
she thought her duty, he would be growing into 
the great warrior she wanted him to be. Chief 
and squaw were as kind in their home life as 
nature meant them to be. A story is told that an 
Indian traveled forty miles to get some cran¬ 
berries for his sick wife. There was a great war¬ 
rior who rode over a hundred miles to get corn 
for his suffering family. For as much as would 
fill a hat he gave his horse and went home on 
foot. 

The Indian boy did much as he pleased. He 
played ball and tag and loyed to swim, run, and 
jump, so that he would grow up to be a strong, 
healthy Indian, who some day might be the chief 
of the tribe. When a boy was seven years old, he 
was given his first real test. He was sent far 
away to some high point to keep watch and to 
call upon his “Guardian Spirit” to make him 
into a great and brave warrior. When he was 
fifteen years old, he fasted for five days while 
he hunted for a bird, a reptile, or a beast such 
as he had seen in his dreams. The animal once 
caught, he made a bag of the skin, which he 
filled with grass. He wore it as a “good luck” 
piece, which he believed gave him courage and 
strength. 

Indian boys were trained to stand pain and to 


42 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

show no sign of suffering. Once a boy was held 
prisoner by another tribe. He knew that he 
would be shown no mercy, and he prayed to the 
Guardian Spirit that he might be worthy of his 
family. The chief told him that if he could pass 
the test that they would put him through, they 
would not kill him. One of the first things they 
did was to hold his little feet over the hot fire 
until they blistered, after which they opened the 
blisters and filled them with tiny gravel. The 
boy was made to run the gauntlet between two 
rows of warriors who struck at him with heavy 
clubs. His suffering was terrible, hut he did not 
stop until he reached the end. He fell on a wild¬ 
cat skin at the feet of the chief, but neither com¬ 
plaint nor moan could be heard. They took him 
as a member of the tribe and ever after spoke of 
his bravery. 

Boys were rarely punished for their misdeeds. 
Even a mother did not think her son should be 
whipped, for this son might some day be a great 
chief. She gave him many lessons in good man¬ 
ners and in respect to elders, especially to those 
of the same ties of blood. Loyalty to tribe was 
stamped into his very soul. By fasting, by hunt¬ 
ing game in wild places, by body tests the Indian 
boy learned to be a warrior. 

He was taught hospitality by always see- 


INDIAN TRAITS AND CUSTOMS 43 

ing it. The chief traits of the Indian were his 
daring, his strength in standing pain, and his 
hospitality. No sooner was a friendship made 
than he said, “Come in and eat.Indian boys 
and girls were taught clean speech, generosity, 
honesty, politeness. There is not much told of 
these noble traits of the red man. More is said of 
their cruelty and their spirit of revenge. 

Indian children played simple games. They 
flew kites, played tag, hide and seek, and ball 
games. They had fun playing tricks on the dogs. 
These children seemed to be singing or laughing 
all the time. The girls were brought up to work 
as their mothers had worked. They had certain 
tasks to do, but making mud pies seems to have 
been their real delight. 

The dance was very important part in the life 
of the Indians. It gave them pleasure, but was 
bound up with all their religious rites and 
ceremonies. The Scalp Dance, they thought, 
gave them power over the spirit life of an 
enemy; the War Dance began when they planned 
an attack on some pioneer settlement. It was 
as patriotic to them as our bands playing and 
flags flying are to us. This dance sometimes 
lasted hours before a battle. The Indian boy 
feared evil spirits, and these dances, the scalp¬ 
ing knife, and the torture stake were used to 
frighten them away. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE INDIAN AND THE WHITE MAN 

After the Indians had owned the land a thou¬ 
sand or more years, the white man came. On all 
Indian trails the news spread of the coming of 
canoes with wings, bringing men with white 
faces. Queer as they thought them, the Indians 
welcomed the colonists. In exchange for grain 
and fish, they were given trinkets and a magic 
drink. Sometimes it seemed to set them on fire, 
or it filled them with mirth. Sometimes it put 
them to sleep. 

This feeling of friendship did not last long. 
When the Indian saw that the white man meant 
to take his land from him, he became cruel and 
deceitful, ready to protect his own property by 
any means that he could use. 

When the white men came to Jamestown to 
settle, they found the red men, whom they called 
Indians. Powhatan was a sort of king of Vir¬ 
ginia Indians. Of the forty tribes in the state, he 
was chief of thirty. He gave his name to all who 
looked to him. Most of them lived in what is 

44 


INDIAN AND WHITE MAN 45 

now Henrico County on the banks of the Janies 
.River, which they called the Powhatan. 

During Powhatan’s lifetime, all went well be¬ 
tween the white and the red men. The marriage 
of his daughter, Pocahontas, to John Rolfe made 
a happy link of peace between the Indians and 



Indian Peace Pipe 


the white men. The Chickahominy tribe made a 
peace treaty with the settlers as soon as this mar¬ 
riage took place. From that time they were called 
“Tassantessus,” which means “New English¬ 
men.” In the treaty they called themselves sub¬ 
jects of King James of England and made a 
pledge not to kill or rob any of the colonists, and 
to send three hundred warriors to help the col¬ 
ony against any common enemy. After this peace 
was made, the Indians had a great feast called 
a barbecue on the banks of the Chickahominy 



46 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


River. Venison, fish, and other game were 
roasted, and the pipe of peace was smoked by all. 

Then Powhatan died, and his brother Opit- 
chapan was made chief. He was so old and feeble 
that the warriors had to carry him from place to 
place. Opitchapan was followed by a strong 
leader, Opechancanongh, chief of the Chicka- 
hominy tribe. Some say that he was a brother of 
Powhatan, but others do not believe it, for they 
were very much unlike. Opechancanough was as 
mean and cruel as Powhatan had been good and 
kind. He was chief of Virginia Indians for many 
years. He lived to get old and frail. He is said 
to have been too weak to open his eyes. When he 
wanted to see, a warrior had to raise his eyelids. 

One day a party of colonists found Opechan¬ 
canough wandering in the forest. He was much 
too feeble to do any more harm to the colony, 
and they captured him because it would worry 
the red men. Opechancanough had been at 
Jamestown only two weeks when he was shot by 
one of his guards who wished to get even with 
the old chief for a personal injury. 

He was followed by Necotawance, of the Pa- 
munkey tribe. In October, 1646, Necotawance 
made a treaty with the colony. They took the 
king of England as their king, and each year 


INDIAN AND WHITE MAN 47 

brought an offering of furs and game to the 
royal governor. 

Ten years after this, about six hundred Rica- 
hecrian Indians came down from the mountains 
and settled near the falls of the James River, 
the home of the Powhatan Indians. It was not 
long before there was bitter war between these 
tribes. Colonel Edward Hill was placed in com¬ 
mand of a body of white settlers who were or¬ 
dered to drive these red men back into the moun¬ 
tains. Colonel Hill and his white troops were 
helped by Totopotomoi, chief of Pamunkey, 
with one hundred of his tribe. Colonel Hill was 
beaten, and his men driven back. Totopotomoi 
showed himself brave, loyal, and strong. He and 
most of his warriors were killed. His wife was 
a descendant of cruel old Opechancanough. She 
became queen of Pamunkey after Totopotomoi’s 
death. Whenever the colonists asked her for 
guides and allies, she always answered, “ Toto¬ 
potomoi dead.” 

King Charles of England sent her a royal pur¬ 
ple velvet crown with a silver frontlet on it bear¬ 
ing England’s Coat of Arms and these words: 

The Queen of Pamunkey 
Charles II King of England, Scotland, France, 
Ireland and Virginia 
Honi Soit Qui Mol y Pense 


48 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


Years later it came into the hands of a gentle¬ 
man who had been kind to some of the Indians 
when they were ill. They gave him all they had, 
this silver crown from their white king. It is in 
the Museum of the John Marshall House in Rich¬ 
mond. 

As time passed and more immigrants came to 
America, most of the Indians were pushed be¬ 
yond the mountains. To-day there are about two 
thousand Indians in Virginia who are descen¬ 
dants of the Pamunkey, Mattapon, Chicka- 
hominy, Rappahannock, and Nansemond tribes. 
They live where the old Indian villages have al¬ 
ways been. Virginia Indians can hardly be told 
from their white neighbors. Perhaps they are a 
little darker in complexion, and their hair is a 
little straighter. They speak and dress and live 
just as do other citizens of the state. 

They are proud and do not mix freely with 
other groups. Crime and law-breaking are not 
known in these Indian settlements. They are 
easy-going, good, simple, hospitable folk. They 
have lost any desire for revenge; their one wish 
is to live together with the white people in peace 
and friendship. Every fall they take a wild deer 
to the governor of Virginia as a token of the 
peace which has been between the Pamunkey and 
the Chickahominy tribes and the Virginians 
since colonial days. 


CHAPTER VII 


POWHATAN 

Powhatan was one of the most powerful of the 
native chiefs of America. In his young days he 
had been a great warrior. As time passed, he be¬ 
came the chief of eight tribes. To the Indian he 
was the perfect chief. He had added to his own 
tribe, the Powhatan, all those from the James to 
the Potomac Rivers, from Kecoughtan, now 
Hampton, to the falls of the James, now Rich¬ 
mond. This included thirty of the forty tribes in 
Virginia. He had more than eight thousand In¬ 
dian subjects. The Mannahoacs, between the 
Rappahannock and York rivers, the Monacans 
between the York and the James above the falls, 
and those on the Chickahominy were his enemies. 
It was good for the colonists that this was true, 
for Powhatan’s fear of his Indian rivals made 
him help the settlers. 

Sometimes Powhatan lived in a village at the 
falls of the James, where Richmond is to-day; 
at other times he lived on the shores of the York 
River on the Gloucester side. On the Timber- 
49 


50 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


neck farm in Gloucester a stone chimney has 
stood for many years. The story goes that this 
chimney was built for the Indian chief by the 
colonists, who were given grain in return for the 
work and the bricks. It was so deep that a circle 
of Indians could sit around the fire as they 
smoked their pipes of peace. Weromocawoco 
was a site worthy of such a chief. It was almost 
as important in the life of Virginia as James¬ 
town. 

Each tribe had a chief, or werowance, as the 
Powhatan Indians called him. The chief and 
warriors settled their own affairs as they thought 
best, but Powhatan was the chief of them all. 
They both feared and loved him. They brought 
him gifts of skins, beads, copper, pearl, game, 
and corn. He did not fail to reward those who 
did as they were told, and he dealt terrible pun¬ 
ishment to those who disobeyed. 

Above all things, Powhatan wished to show 
to the settlers at Jamestown the power he had 
over so many red men. The chance came when 
Smith was taken prisoner. Powhatan sat on a 
platform before the fire. He wore a robe of rac¬ 
coon skins and strings of shells around his neck. 
There were two rows of warriors standing on all 
four sides of the arbor-like house, and behind 
each row of men there were as many women. All 


POWHATAN 


51 


had stained their faces with stripes or spots of 
blue, red, and yellow. Their bodies and shoulders 
were red. Bears’ claws hung from their necks 
or ears, and their hair was filled with white 
down. When John Smith was brought before 
them, they gave a war whoop that must have 
turned his blood cold. If it had not been for 
Pocahontas, Smith would have been killed. Pow¬ 
hatan felt that it would be wise to have a friend 
at Jamestown; so he let Smith return. Before he 
went, Powhatan told him that they were friends. 
In exchange for his life he wanted Smith to send 
him two large guns and a grindstone. Twelve 
warriors went with him to Jamestown then, but 
they forgot all about the guns and the grindstone 
when they were given a few bright toys for them¬ 
selves and many for their chief. 

The red men used tomahawks for fighting. 
They were satisfied with them until they saw the 
English swords, muskets, and pistols. Powhatan 
planned to get some like them by hook or by 
crook. He tried to show that he was their very 
great friend and claimed that, because of this, 
they should share these shining guns with him 
in exchange for the things he could do for the 
settlers. The English were not so easily trapped. 
They knew that as long as they had powder, 
guns, and swords, they could protect themselves 


52 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

from the red men, who had only stone toma¬ 
hawks. They certainly would not put into the 
Indians’ hands weapons with which to destroy 
the settlement. One day Powhatan sent twenty 
turkeys to Smith with a message that this was 
to show his love and that he hoped Smith would 
send him twenty swords to show his affection. 
When Powhatan could not get them by pre¬ 
tended friendship, many plots were laid to sur¬ 
prise the colonists and take the weapons by force. 

There was much unrest between the white and 
the red men. To quiet things, Smith and four 
companions went to Weromocawoco to see Pow¬ 
hatan. It was the season for corn-trading. 
Powhatan had told all his tribes not to trade 
with the white men and not to let them enter 
the river. These tribes feared their great chief 
and dared not disobey. Powhatan had made up 
his mind to starve the colony if he could not get 
their guns. He meant to get rid of the white set¬ 
tlement. The white men got as much corn as they 
could from the Indians by force. The Indians 
had plenty of it. The white men burned their 
long houses and took the grain. Then they tired 
guns loaded with shell or gravel. This frightened 
the red men more than you can imagine, for they 
had never before heard such noises. 

It was not until the marriage of Pocahontas 


POWHATAN 


53 


that Powhatan and his tribes became friendly to 
the settlers at Jamestown. This peace continued 
until after his death, which followed soon after 
that of Pocahontas. 


CHAPTER VIII 
POCAHONTAS 

Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan. 
Of the twenty sons and eleven daughters of Pow- 
hatan, Pocahontas seems to have been his favor¬ 
ite child. The Indians named her Matoake, but 
she was called Pocahontas by the white men. 

Pocahontas was reared as ally other Indian 
girl who was the favorite daughter of a great 
chief. She was reared to stand pain and suffer¬ 
ing. Prom birth she was made to do things to 
harden her; indeed, as a little baby, she was 
bathed in the river on the coldest mornings. As 
she played around the garden of their home at 
Weromocawoco, she saw a long string of scalps 
hanging from the trees, and she liked the string 
to grow longer because with each new scalp there 
was a big powwow, which ended in a wild dance. 
Her manners seem to have been like those of any 
other outdoor people, and she was good, brave, 
truthful, and honest. 

Pocahontas grew to like the white men at 
Jamestown and helped them in many ways. Once 

54 


POCAHONTAS 


55 



Statue of Pocahontas 




56 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

when Smith made a trip up the river to get food, 
he was captured and carried to Powhatan. The 
wise men of the tribe decided to kill Smith, for 
they thought that with the leader out of the way 
the white men would become discouraged and 
go hack to England. Two large stones were 
placed in the circle of Indian warriors, and Cap¬ 
tain Smith’s head was placed upon them while 
they sang, danced, and yelled with delight. 

Pocahontas pleaded with her father not to 
kill this white man who had been so kind to her. 
He would not listen to her, and ordered his men 
to go ahead. As they raised the heavy clubs to 
strike, Pocahontas threw herself down on Cap¬ 
tain Smith’s head. These cruel, half-savage men 
were touched by Pocahontas’s sympathy for 
Smith, and he was allowed to go back to James- 
town. After this there was greater friendship be¬ 
tween Pocahontas and the settlement than ever 
before. She would go through the dark woods 
full of wild animals to warn her friends of dan¬ 
ger and to carry them food. It is due as much to 
Pocahontas’s friendship for the colonists as to 
any other reason that England succeeded in 
making the settlement at Jamestown in 1607. 

At one time the Indians made a raid and stole 
all the guns and farming utensils they could 
carry away. To get them back, the colonists pre- 


POCAHONTAS 57 

tended to take Pocahontas prisoner. On a trip 
up the James they saw her on the shore. They 
invited her to come on their boat to see the pretty 
chains and belts. No sooner was she there than 
the boat sailed away to Jamestown. Smith sent 
word to Chief Powhatan that his favorite daugh¬ 
ter would not come home until he sent back the 
guns and utensils they had stolen from the col¬ 
ony. Pocahontas was well treated and rather en¬ 
joyed being the white men’s prisoner, but the 
old chief was furious. 

He waited two months before he sent word 
that he would give up the stolen guns for his 
daughter. Captain Argali went to meet Powha¬ 
tan and took Pocahontas with him, but when 
they came to Weromocawoco, she would not 
leave the boat. She had learned to love the ways 
of the white men. John Rolfe, a leader of the 
London Company, a young man of a good fam¬ 
ily from England, wanted to marry the Indian 
princess. 

The royal governor of Virginia had to get 
permission from England for the marriage. 
After Pocahontas had given her promise to 
marry Rolfe, she sent word of it to her father. 
She did not think he would give his consent, but 
he did. He seemed to be quite pleased. He sent 
his old uncle and two of his sons to attend the 


58 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


wedding at Jamestown. In the spring of 3614 
the strange bridal party entered the church: the 
young Englishman and the Indian chief’s 
daughter. With them were two Indian brothers. 
Pocahontas said her vows in broken English be¬ 
fore the altar. 

It was the first union between the natives and 
those who were to own the land. From that day, 
there was a friendly feeling between the Indians 
and the white men. This powerful Indian chief 
had given his most beloved child to be the wife 
of one of the white leaders. As long as Powhatan 
lived, he felt their interests and never did any¬ 
thing to break the peace. The Indian tribes far¬ 
ther up in Virginia feared for their own safety 
when they saw the bond between the tribes of 
Powhatan and the colonists. The Chickahomi- 
nies tried to make peace. This they did and 
called themselves Tassantessus, Englishmen. 

The Rolfes built a home in Henrico and lived 
there until they went to visit England in 1616. 
Rolfe wanted his family over there to see his 
wife. She was welcomed by the king and queen 
as a royal princess of Virginia. They thanked 
her for the kindness she had shown the settlers. 
Matoake, once Princess Pocahontas, now Lady 
Rolfe, was entertained with the pomp and cere¬ 
mony due the daughter of a king. 


POCAHONTAS 59 

While they were in England, a little son was 
born to the Holies. Just as they were leaving 
England to return to their home in Virginia, 
Princess Pocahontas died. John Rolfe left his 
little son with an uncle, who cared for him and 
gave him a good education. As soon as the son 
reached manhood, he came to Virginia. He mar¬ 
ried and lived at the old home in Henrico. He 
left an only daughter who married Robert Bol¬ 
ing, and there are many of their name in Vir¬ 
ginia who can trace their descent from Pocahon¬ 
tas, the Indian princess, the loyal and brave 
friend of the Jamestown settlers. 


60 


THINGS TO HO 


Games You May Like to Play 
Game I 

Write the term in column two that will explain the one 
in column one. Each correct answer counts 2. 

1. squaw Indian Heaven 

2. papoose beads 

3. wigwam hatchet 

4. tomahawk doctor 

5. medicine man tent 

6. Happy Hunting Ground baby 

7. wampum woman 

The highest possible score is 14; the lowest, 0 . 

Game II 

What event does each name make you think of? 

1. Powhatan 5. Ghanco 

2. Pocahontas 6. Totopotamoi 

3. Werewocamoco 7. Chickahominy 

4. Opechancanough 8. Pamunkey 

Things You May Like to Ho 

1. Build the first settlement at Jamestown and in the 
distance an Indian village. This can be made of clay 
and paper or paper and wood. 

2. Dramatize the marriage of John Rolfe and Poca¬ 
hontas. 

3. Collect poems and stories about the Indians. 

4. Learn to sing some of the Indian songs and play some 
of their games. 

5. Make a list of Indian names of places in Virginia. 


PART 111—VIRGINIA COLONIAL LIFE 


CHAPTER IX 

COLONIAL PLANTATIONS 

During all these years, from the landing at 
Jamestown in 1607 to its burning in 1676, a 
great change took place in the kind of people set¬ 
tling in Virginia. In that crowd of one hundred 
and three men who came over on the Discovery, 
the Sarah Constant, and the Godspeed, there 
were many brave men and true. There were 
others who were brave, but not always true. That 
is why in the early days the colony went through 
many trials. But in every group there were hon¬ 
est, brave gentlemen to carry on the work. 

Then, in England there came a time when the 
people were divided in their loyalty to the Stuart 
king, Charles. Up to that time, it was believed 
everywhere that a king could do no wrong, since 
his power was God-given. But now the feeling 
became so bitter against the king that the coun¬ 
try was torn by war. Charles, the king, was made 
a prisoner, and the people condemned him to 
61 


62 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


death. For eleven years England had no king, 
and the people who had taken his life and his 
place hated all his relatives and friends. 

It was during this period (1649-1660) that 
many of the king’s friends and admirers left 
their homes to come to America, where they 
could be true to the king. So many Cavaliers left 
England to come to Virginia that they tried to 
persuade Prince Charles, the murdered king’s 
son, to come with them. Virginia was like Eng¬ 
land before the time of unrest. The king himself 
called Virginia the Old Dominion. She had stood 
by him when the mother country failed to do so. 

These Cavaliers who left England because 
they were loyal to the king brought to America 
the country life that they knew at home. It was 
not long before the heads of the new English 
government failed and a Stuart king, Charles, 
was on the throne of England again. How he did 
love this American colony in Virginia! They had 
been his loyal friends when he needed them most. 
He protected them in every possible way. And 
how that Virginia colony loved England! The 
bricks to build their houses, the silks to make 
their dresses, the teachers for their children 
must come from England. As for government, 
it must be as nearly like that of the mother 


COLONIAL PLANTATIONS 63 

country as a distance of three thousand miles 
across the Atlantic would permit. 

The homes of the settlers at Jamestown were 
rude log cabins. 

Even the church 
was little more than 
that. At first they 
used the sail of the 
ship for the roof of 
the church. They 
built their cabins 
close together and 
surrounded them 
with a sort of 
wooden fence made 
from trunks of 
trees. This building 
was called a stock¬ 
ade and was a safe 
place in which to 
hide from the In¬ 
dians. 

As the years 
passed, the red man seemed to become friend¬ 
lier, and the colonists that came to Virginia did 
not feel that they had to live so close together. 
They settled on plantations farther up the James 
and York rivers. Ships sailed up to the private 



Colonial Plantations on 
the James River 








64 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


wharves, and the owners dealt directly with 
England. 

In those early days, the king gave a colonist a 
certain number of acres of land if he would 
promise to live on it and take care of it. Often 
he added more acres to what a man already had 
if he had done some worthy deed to help the 
colony. It was in this way that many added to 
their large estates, and as they became rich, they 
wanted to build themselves better homes. Of 
course, there were many poor people here, too. 
They lived in log houses. 

The better colonial home was built much like 
the fine homes in England. Changes had to be 
made to suit the climate in Virginia. Some of the 
old houses in Virginia were built of brick and 
stone brought from England. Others were made 
of the heart of the timber of the great forest. 
The buildings were usually very long and not 
very wide, with an attic lighted by dormer win¬ 
dows. The entrance was on the long side, and at 
each end of the building there were huge chim¬ 
neys. They even built secret rooms in them. Wide 
porches were built on both ends and sometimes 
on three sides of the house. They were needed 
because people lived outdoors so much in Vir¬ 
ginia. These house plans were much like those 
in England, but for the porches. In nearly all 


COLONIAL PLANTATIONS 


65 


houses a hall was built right through the middle 
of the house from the front to the back door. 
This made the home much more comfortable in 
the hot summer. In fact, the hall was very often 



Old Nelson House and Garden at Yorktown 


the coolest place in the house. They did not build 
the kitchen in the house, but just outside. It was 
connected with the main house by a covered 
porch. This was done to keep from the house the 
odor of cooking and the heat of the large fire¬ 
places. There were a plenty of servants in Vir¬ 
ginia ; so this was a good arrangement. Most of 




66 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


these old houses had several bedrooms on the 
first floor. They were the rooms used by the fam¬ 
ily. Guest rooms were usually upstairs. This 
was to give the guests a privacy which could not 
be had on the first floor. 

In many of the old houses the woodwork was 
painted cream. In others it kept the wood tone. 
The walls were wainscoted and handcarved. The 
staircase was very graceful and beautiful. 

Behind the “great house” there were many 
small buildings. All the things needed by the peo¬ 
ple were made on the plantation. Many cabins 
were needed for the negro servants, and store¬ 
houses for meats, poultry, milk, and vegetables. 
Then there were the spring house, the barns, and 
the carriage house. 

One of the most beautiful spots on the old 
plantation was the flower garden. Most of the 
old gardens were built on terraces. Each terrace 
had a different kind of flower to bloom at a 
different season. Up the path, right to the house, 
were large boxwood trees. Sometimes they were 
so big and tall that they hid the whole house 
from the public highway. 

The furnishings were not the same in all colo¬ 
nial houses. Some Cavaliers were richer than 
others. They had finer homes and better furni- 


COLONIAL PLANTATIONS 67 

ture than the others. The furniture was usually 
homemade from the heart of a tree. 

The beds were four-posters. They were very 
high. Sometimes a small stepladder had to be 
used to get over the feather tick and safely into 



Dining-room in a Virginia Mansion 


bed. One of the reasons for this high four-poster 
was that a little trundle bed was rolled under it 
during the day. At night it was pulled out for 
the children. These old homes were not well 
heated, and often they were very drafty. To help 
to keep the sleeper warm, the beds were hung 










68 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


with heavy curtains. The sheets were made of 
linen. The quilts were handmade and very beau¬ 
tiful. Colonial matrons spent many hours mak¬ 
ing the bed covering and curtains. 

Each home had many chests. They were used 
for different purposes and were made in all 
shapes and sizes. Few of the colonial homes had 
closets, and these lovely chests had to be used 
for clothes and for the household linen. Cup¬ 
boards were used to keep dishes and silver. Pew¬ 
ter plates, which were used by most people, shone 
like silver. Some families bought china and 
glass from England, but they had to be very rich 
to do anything like that. The writing desks, 
called secretaries, could be used for several 
things. There were shelves for books, drawers 
for almost anything, and a flat board that let 
down for writing. The desks, like the cupboards, 
chests, and other pieces of furniture, were made 
of mahogany or oak and were beautifully carved, 
or else they were made of a cheaper wood and 
painted a bright color. 

It was a long time before the people made 
chairs for their houses. They had stools or 
benches, some with and others without backs. 
When a bench had a high back, it often had a 
bed in the seat. On cold nights it would be pulled 
open before the large fireplace. It served as a 


COLONIAL PLANTATIONS 69 

bed and as a chair, and sometimes it was pushed 
against the large chimney to keep the wind out. 
The first chairs were the ladder-back kind. The 
seats were made of bark or leather or a closely- 
woven woolen blanket. 

A grandfather’s clock, reaching almost to the 
ceiling, is found in almost every colonial home 



Candle-Making 


in Virginia. Jefferson made the one in his home, 
at Monticello. Clocks were not the only way that 
they had of telling time. Each plantation had an 
hour-glass. An hour-glass had two ends of glass 
joined by a tube-like opening. It took an hour 
for a certain amount of sand to run from one 
end to the other. The Negroes used neither the 
old hour-glass nor the new clock, but told the 
time of day by the sun. 








70 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


For many years after the settlement there 
were no floor coverings, but with the improve¬ 
ment of other things, these came too. Lovely 
floors were made of carved woods, or many kinds 
of wood were used together to make a design. In 
Washington’s day heavy carpets were used on 
the floor, and lighter ones for draperies. Some¬ 
times the wealthy people had them sent over 
from England. 

To light their cabins after dark, the first set¬ 
tlers used pine knots, as they had seen the In¬ 
dians do. There were plenty to be had just for 
the gathering of them in the fall. As soon as they 
had stock farms, pine knots were no longer 
needed. Candles were made from animal fat. 
Candle-making became a big piece of work that 
had to be carefully done. It took many dippings 
to get a candle big enough. The maker had to be 
quick; if he was not, the tallow would crack later. 
It was a big task to make candles for a large 
mansion. Many of them were used every night. 

In the dining room, the reception hall, and the 
parlor of the wealthy planter, were candle- 
holders hung from the ceiling. Each chandelier 
would hold dozens of candles. Under each light 
there was a small piece of glass. These chande¬ 
liers were brilliant with all the candles lighted. 
Those at the Harrisons’ home at Brandon, on 


COLONIAL PLANTATIONS 


71 


the James River, are beautiful. But think of the 
time it took to save the tallow to make the 
candles for all those lights! To-day there is 
only a button to press—Edison has given us 
light. Of course, there were no matches in those 



A Spinning Wheel 


days. The fire was never allowed to go out. If it 
did, it meant much trouble to make it again. 

Each plantation was a little community in it¬ 
self. All kinds of vegetables were raised. The 
soil and climate are good in all parts of Virginia, 
and the crops were usually fine. They raised 
enough for themselves and for their many ser- 






72 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

vants. On another part of the plantation they 
grew corn, wheat, and grain for the cattle. Then 
there was the milk to take care of, and pounds 
of sweet, country butter were made fresh every 
day. A little closer to the great house was the 
poultry yard. Special care was given to the 
chickens, turkeys, and geese. There were always 
plenty of fresh eggs for cakes, pies, and many 
other good things to eat. On these big planta¬ 
tions they raised from March to October enough 
to eat to last them until the new crops came in 
the next year. During the winter they did not 
have to work outdoors, picking cotton or grow¬ 
ing tobacco to send across the ocean. Then they 
used the spinning wheel to weave lovely rugs, 
carpets, curtains, and clothes. 

In the early days of Virginia, there were no 
towns or cities. There were only these great 
plantations, but each one was as busy as any 
little town could be. This came about for two 
reasons. The Englishmen who came to Virginia 
to live wanted to have the same kind of life here 
that they had had in England. They had been 
here only twelve years when, in 1619, the Dutch 
ship brought some Negroes from Africa to Vir¬ 
ginia. The farmers were delighted with this 
extra help and paid for them with tobacco, cot¬ 
ton, and furs. The Negroes loved the balmy air 


COLONIAL PLANTATIONS 73 

of Virginia and the easy life on the plantations. 
They were a great help to the large landowners. 
From the first, everybody had to work in the 
new country, but with the coming of the Negroes 
colonial life changed. There was some work for 
all, but a great deal of time left for their own 
pleasures. There never was any hurry about the 



Carrying Tobacco to the Wharf in Virginia 


work, for there were always plenty of people to 
help. Those were lovely old melodies that the 
Virginia Negro sang as he went about his work. 
From the cotton field and the garden and before 
their cabin doors, the happy voices of the Negro 
slaves were heard. 

From the friendly Indians the colonists 
learned all about tobacco—how to plant the tiny 
seeds in the spring so that they would grow into 
big stalks with broad green leaves. In the fall 




74 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

it was cut and put away to dry. It took many 
workers to take care of a big tobacco crop. The 
Negroes liked to work in the sunny tobacco and 
cotton fields, while other slaves were cooking 
their food and still others were weaving their 
clothes. 

In the late fall ships would come from Eng¬ 
land, bringing silks, satins, laces, china, glass, 
and other fine things. They would carry back 
loads of tobacco in place of the things they had 
left. Tobacco came to be the coin of Virginia. 
People paid their bills, even their fines, in 
pounds of tobacco. Virginia raised even more 
cotton than she did tobacco. These two crops and 
the Negro slaves made up the wealth of Virginia. 


CHAPTER X 
COLONIAL CUSTOMS 

A very happy life went on in a colonial home. 
The homes were too far apart for frequent visit¬ 
ing ; so visits nearly always lasted several days 
or more. The guest chambers were usually filled 
with a merry crowd. The only roads were the 
old Indian trails, and it was no pleasant trip to 
make a journey of many miles over rocky, 
muddy roads. 

The grown-ups had many lovely parties. They 
played the harp, the violin, and the spinet. They 
loved to dance. The great gentlemen and their 
ladies thoroughly enjoyed the stately, dignified, 
square dances. The minuet and the Virginia reel 
were favorites of the men and women. Raleigh 
Tavern at Williamsburg was the meeting place 
of the leading patriots. In the large hall many 
dances were given. 

Fishing and fox-hunting have always been 
real sports in Virginia. Horseback riding was 
necessary. Unless the plantation was near a 
river or bay, the people could not travel over 

75 


76 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 



Ballroom Scene in a Virginia Mansion 


the lonely roads except on horseback. The men 
became great riders and took pride dn their 
horses. They could tell the names and ages of all 
their horses and dogs. Because of this love, 
horse-racing became popular. 


















COLONIAL CUSTOMS 77 

Visiting was enjoyed by every one. No one bad 
to wait for an invitation. The latch-string was 
on the outside. A person could go from one end 
of Virginia to the other and find a welcome in 
every home. 

Boys and girls played outdoor games and 
were given much freedom to play. The little chil¬ 
dren played all kinds of tag games. They had 
singing games: Ring around the Rosy, London 
Bridge, Here We Go round the Mulberry Bush, 
This Is the Way I Spin the Yarn. The larger 
boys had ball games, thread the needle, blind- 
man’s buff, hide and seek, leapfrog, and hop¬ 
scotch. When he was very young every colonial 
boy learned to fish, to hunt, and to ride. Both 
boys and girls danced around the Maypole and 
followed what their mothers and fathers did. 

As for toys, few were brought from England 
to America. There were so many other things 
that the colonists needed that they could not give 
the space to toys. Sometimes dolls would come. 
They were dressed in the newest fashions and 
were sent by makers of clothing in Paris and 
London. The ladies would order from these doll 
models what they liked for their own clothes. 
After they had been sent from one place to 
another until every colonial dame had seen them, 
the little girls would get the dolls with the soiled 


78 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

dresses. They were delighted with them. Every 
girl was taught to sew. She had to know how to 
make dresses, and it was real play to make a 
sampler or knit a pair of mittens. All the time 
she was learning to become a homemaker. That 
was the chief duty and the greatest pleasure in 
any girl’s life in colonial days. 

Colonial boys and girls knew that they were 
“to be seen and not heard” when grown folks 
were about. A courtly bow was given by the boys 
on entering and leaving the room, and the girls 
made a curtsy. Life in the colonial days of Vir¬ 
ginia was as happy for man, woman, and child 
as the time and place could make it. 

If one thing has changed more than another 
since colonial days, it is the style of dressing. 
Clothes nearly always told how much a person 
had. A man would be taxed by the kind of 
clothes he and his family wore. 

There was a law that any one whose home was 
valued at less than a thousand pounds could 
not “wear gold or silver lace, or any lace above 
two shillings a yard.” Sometimes the law would 
be broken. Then the guilty person would be 
brought before the magistrate. He would have 
to show that he had enough to wear such costly 
things as fine lace. 

The wealthier people wore clothes that had 


COLONIAL CUSTOMS 79 

to come all the way from England. Even if they 
had the money to pay for the fine silks and 
satins, many housewives liked to make the things 
at home. They took pride in wearing what they 
had had a hand in making. 

The styles were very pretty. Men wore long, 
velvet coats with frills of lace at the cuffs. Their 
vests were embroidered silk and their shirts had 
lace ruffles. The breeches were very tight and 
came only to the knee. Long silk stockings to 



Some Hats of Colonial Times 


match the breeches were worn with pointed-toed 
slippers that had large silver buckles. 

And men powdered their hair! It was not 
short, as it is to-day, hut was worn in a queue 
down to the shoulder. If they did not like their 
own hair, they had gray wigs made. Their hats 
were three-cornered and cock-shaped. 

Now, if the men had such fancy things for 
their best clothes, you may know the ladies did, 
too! They had wide, full dresses of heavy silks 
over hoops, with much embroidery and fine lace. 
The hair was curled and worn high on the head 
with a stray curl or two. All of it was powdered 


80 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

a lovely white. The hats that were worn with 
such a hairdressing had to be very high. They 
were trimmed with many beautiful feathers. 

Little boys and girls dressed much as their 
fathers and mothers did. 

The clothes matched everything else the Cava¬ 
liers had. These tine silks and satins were in 
keeping with their beautiful homes, their pretty 
handmade furniture, their own houses, and 
their kind manners. A Cavalier’s wealth was 
measured by the size and fineness of his plan¬ 
tation. 

When the men landed at Jamestown in 1607, 
they walked from place to place in the Indian 
paths, but most of the travel in Virginia was 
by water. Homes were built on the banks of 
Virginia’s many rivers. The plantations were so 
large that there were many miles between the 
great houses. The land trip was not only a long 
but a hard one, even after the roads were made 
wider. 

Horseback riding was the usual way of travel¬ 
ing. A married woman rode behind her husband. 
As soon as the roads could be made wide enough, 
all kinds of carriages were used, some for one 
horse and others for two or four horses. At first 
there were few, but as the years passed, every 
family owned its own carriage. They took great 


COLONIAL CUSTOMS 


81 


pride in haying it of the right kind and keeping 
it in good condition. The only roads in colonial 
Virginia were those made by the Indians. It has 
been three hundred years since the settlement, 
and there are some Indian trails still in use. 
Of course, there were no bridges. Often the car¬ 
riage and horses had to be ferried across the 



Old-Time Stagecoach and Inn 


stream. Anything would do for the usual trav¬ 
eler —canoe, flatboat, or sailboat. 

The stagecoach came into use during the later 
colonial period just after the Revolution. These 
stagecoaches certainly were not comfortable. 
There were always many people who wanted to 
make each trip, and it was never certain when 
the stagecoach would go. Overnight stops were 
made at taverns. Everybody knew where the 
stop would he made, just as we know the stops 


82 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


of the trains. The tavern was the headquarters 
for the stage driver, who changed horses there 
and made the necessary repairs before he went 
farther. 

For a long time letters were sent from hand 
to hand. Either the stagecoach driver took them, 

or some friend did. 
There was a mail 
taken by the post¬ 
rider. He would go 
if he had enough 
letters to pay the 
cost of the trip. As 
late as 1760, letters 
were sent from Vir¬ 
ginia to Philadel¬ 
phia eight times a 
year. The tavern 
seems to have been 
the place where the stagecoach delivered the 
mail. 

Virginians did not care for taverns or tavern- 
keepers. They did not think much of a man who 
took money for entertaining guests. Every home 
was open to guests. They liked company even 
if they were not acquaintances. Travelers were 
always welcome. 



Postrider of Colonial Times 




CHAPTER XI 


COLONIAL INSTITUTIONS 

Schools 

There were no schools for all the children to 
go to, such as we have to-day. The first free 
school in America was in Virginia in 1635. It 
was for the Indians and the poor children of 
the colonists who had come to America to work 
off their debts. The Cavaliers had many acres 
of land, and their homes were miles and miles 
apart; so each planter had a little schoolhouse 
built on the grounds not far from the great 
house. They sent to England to get a teacher, or 
sometimes the preacher or the sexton taught the 
boys and girls until they were old enough to 
leave home to study. 

The schoolhouse was heated by a large fire in 
the big chimney. All the boys and girls sat in 
one room, the beginners as well as the advanced 
pupils. The desks were not like the comfortable 
ones we have to-day. For many years the desks 
were long boards nailed to wooden sticks which 

83 


84 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


held them in place. The benches were like our 
seats, but not quite so high. Of course, they had 
no backs. 

Books were not easy to be had. That was 
true until a very few years ago. In those days 
many teachers brought the books with them 
from England. Those for the young children 
were made by the teacher. Each child had a thin 
piece of hoard to which lessons written by the 
teacher were tacked. It was covered by a piece 
of horn and was called a hornbook. The board 
had a little hole in the end of it. A string could 
be put through the hole, and the lesson plan 
hung around the neck. 

There were no blackboards and no maps. It 
was not until the time that Washington went to 
school that pencils were used. Paper had to be 
brought from England, and it was not to be 
wasted. The pupils used the bark of birch trees 
in order to save paper. Each child had a copy 
book made of foolscap paper sewed down in the 
middle. The lines were ruled by hand. The 
teacher and the big boys made pens of goose 
quills, and ink was made from the powder of 
wild berries. Blotters were clean white sand 
sprinkled over the writing! 

Writing was one of the main subjects. Every 
one was taught to write clearly. It was no 


COLONIAL INSTITUTIONS 


85 


trouble to read what the boys and girls of 
colonial days wrote. 

Arithmetic meant learning to add, multiply, 
subtract, and divide. It was no easy matter. 
They had examples with as many as seventeen 
figures multiplied by seventeen figures. In di¬ 
vision they sometimes had a dividend of twenty- 
one figures with a divisor of ten figures. Then, 
in Virginia, a boy had to know how to ride, to 
hunt, and to tell the truth. These were as much 
a part of the boys’ schooling as reading, writing, 
and arithmetic work. 

As for punishments in the colonial schools, 
they were hard. Whipping with a birch rod was 
the usual one. For more than two hundred years 
nearly every schoolmaster in America taught 
with a birch rod. When the rod was not used, 
other things were done to make the pupil feel 
very much ashamed. When there was too much 
whispering, the youngsters would be yoked to¬ 
gether like oxen. They would have to stand that 
way for hours. Those who would not or could 
not learn had to wear “dunce caps.” The boy 
who helped others when he should not do so had 
to wear the sign “Telltale,” and, of course, there 
were many other punishments similar to these. 

The girls studied with the boys in the home 
school. After a girl had learned all she could 


86 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

from the tutor, her mother taught her to become 
a good housekeeper and an attractive young 
woman. It was not until long after the colonial 
days that there was a school for girls in Vir¬ 
ginia. Girls were expected to know how to sing, 



William and Mary College, the First College 
in Virginia 


to dance, to sew, to be pretty and helpful, but 
that was all that the colonial girl was thought 
to need. The Cavaliers sometimes sent their 
older boys back to England to be educated. 
Sometimes they were away for several years 
before they could get home. 

Then William and Mary College was founded. 
The colonists had tried since 1619 to have a col- 





COLONIAL INSTITUTIONS 87 

lege, but with Indian massacres and other trials 
and hardships it was not until 1693 that Dr. 
James Blair got the charter from King William 
and Queen Mary. It is the second oldest college 
in America, and the only royal one. It had the 
first law school. Just as Williamsburg became 
the center of social life in America, William and 
Mary College became the center of higher edu¬ 
cation. It had twenty thousand acres of land 
granted by the king and got plenty of money 
from a tax on tobacco. In fact, there was so 
much money at hand that every year it sent 
forty pounds to help “the infant College of 
Harvard in Massachusetts.” 

Church 

When the English Cavaliers came to America, 
religion was a much-talked-of subject. For many 
hundreds of years the greater part of Europe 
had been Catholic. Persons who were members 
of the Catholic Church had more rights and 
privileges than those who were not. Everybody 
had to pay to keep up this church whether he 
was a member or not. The Pope was the head 
of the Church, as the king was head of a country. 
While Henry VIII was king of England, he and 
the Pope could not agree. 

Then it was that the king set up a church in 


88 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

England without the Pope as its head. It was 
called the Church of England. Some of the peo¬ 
ple in England did not like what the king had 
done, and many of them left England. They 
went to Holland, just across the English Chan¬ 
nel, to live. It was not long before they left 
Holland. They did not like to have their children 
grow up to speak the Dutch language. English 
language, laws, and customs they wanted, but 
they did not like the church. 

Then to these good people came word of the 
English colony at Jamestown. They had English 
laws, English customs, and an English Church. 
Why could not they do this? Best of all, they 
could worship God as they pleased. With these 
ideals, the Puritans set sail in the Mayflower. 
They landed in what they called New England 
in 1620, thirteen years after the Cavaliers settled 
at Jamestown. There were Englishmen in Vir¬ 
ginia and in Massachusetts. The Cavaliers were 
a part of England, but the Puritans had cut 
themselves off from England so that they could 
worship God as they pleased. 

In colonial days the Cavaliers established 
laws, customs, religion as they were in England. 
The Episcopal Church was the church of the 
government, and membership in it gave more 
rights than membership in any other church. 


COLONIAL INSTITUTIONS 89 

Most of the great planters belonged to it. Every 
one who owned a certain amount of property 
had to pay taxes to keep up the church and pay 
the parson. 

There was a group of Quakers in Virginia. 
They did not own a church. For a long time no 
one would give them a place in which to gather. 
An uncle of George Washington felt sorry for 
them. He let them meet in one of his unused 
barns. Many people looked down upon him for 
even letting the Quakers worship in one of his 
empty barns. 

In 1662 it was against the law to meet with 
the Quakers. If a person went to a Quaker meet¬ 
ing and it was known, he was fined two hundred 
pounds of tobacco. A half of this fine went to 
the man who told of it, and the other half went 
to the colony. 

The Virginia Assembly did not like the 
Quakers, as you can see from these laws. They 
said that the Quakers spoke ill of the parsons, 
broke the laws, took God’s name in vain, and 
that they aimed to destroy government and re¬ 
ligion. The colonists brought with them from 
England the thought that any religion but their 
own was not good. Views on this changed as men 
grew more broad-minded. 

Who do you think helped a great deal in 


90 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

bringing about this changed None other than 
Thomas Jefferson. It was he who brought up 
the bill in the Virginia Assembly to separate 
church and state, thus giving the same rights to 
all. Thereafter in Virginia a man could worship 
God as he wished. This would not keep him from 
having the same rights, privileges, and social 
standing as any one else. When Madison helped 
write the Constitution of the United States, this 
was made a part of it. 

Government 

The colony that came from England in 1607 
brought a new order of things into the New 
World. They brought English justice and free¬ 
dom with them. For a few years they listened 
blindly to the London Company. They were too 
sick in body and mind to do anything else. As 
soon as their health was better, they saw things 
as they really were. There was no reason for 
them to work as slaves for the London Company. 
By 1619 the colonists at Jamestown had got the 
privilege of helping to make their own laws. 

The governor and the council were named in 
England. In addition, each town or plantation 
had the right to choose two men to sit with the 
governor and the ^uncil and to help in making 
laws for the colony. This was the beginning of 


COLONIAL INSTITUTIONS 91 

self-government, which became complete in 
1776. There were only twenty-two men in the 
first House of Burgesses, as it was called. They 
made some queer laws. If either a man or his 
wife wore fine clothes, the man had to pay more 
taxes. Those who wore silks, satins, velvets, 
and laces paid more money than those who did 
not. A house was taxed according to the number 
of stories it had. Houses having two stories were 
taxed twice as much as one-story houses. In most 
colonial houses, there are dormer windows on 
the top floor. The full tax was not paid for this 
half-story, as it was called. 

The House of Burgesses acted as a court and 
tried all men accused of crime. They had magis¬ 
trates to help them in some cases. The people 
were usually punished by being fined or by be¬ 
ing whipped publicly. The fines were not in 
dollars but in pounds of tobacco. 

There were some who believed in witches and 
haunt§. There is a place in Princess Anne 
County called Witch Duck. The “witches” of 
tidewater were ducked there. The person ac¬ 
cused of witchcraft was brought before the 
magistrate, and he ordered that she be thrown 
into the water. If she drowned, they knew she 
had not been a witch. If she lived, they believed 
she certainly was one. 


92 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

The trial most remembered in Virginia is the 
one of Grace Sherwood. She was a very beauti¬ 
ful woman—perhaps the prettiest in Virginia. 
The other ladies living in tidewater did not like 
her. They thought she did many queer things. 
They decided she must be a witch. She was 
brought to the magistrate for trial. He ordered 
that her right great toe be tied to her left thumb, 
and her right thumb to her left great toe. Then 
she was to be placed on a long sliding board and 
thrown into Lynnhaven Bay.. People far and 
near came to see these punishments, to watch 
the witch get what they thought she deserved. 
It was a larger crowd than usual that came to 
see Grace Sherwood. Tied as she was, down she 
slid into the water. To the horror of the ladies 
she came up. They were more sure than ever that 
she was a witch, since she did not drown. 

They knew too that there were always some 
people who were ready to make trouble for 
others. So there was not only a law to punish 
the witch, but there was also a law to punish 
a person who brought such a charge to the court 
and could not prove it. He had to pay a thou¬ 
sand pounds of tobacco. 

The colonial law-making body at Jamestown 
was made up of Governor, Council, and Bur- 


COLONIAL INSTITUTIONS 93 

gesses. They met together until 1680. The body 
has been called the General Assembly. 

After the burning of Jamestown the capital 
was moved to Williamsburg. Later, it went to 
Richmond and has been there ever since. The 
General Assembly meets there. The Capitol was 
finished in 1805, and the ground plan of the 
building was an H. On one side the House of 
Burgesses met and on the other the Governor's 
Council and the General Court. 

It was here that the first step was taken to 
join the thirteen English colonies on the Atlan¬ 
tic seaboard. It was here that the Virginia 
Assembly called the colonies free and inde¬ 
pendent states. This committee was looking out 
for the safety of Virginia. They knew that they 
had to have some sort of government, since they 
were no longer ruled by a royal governor. 

It was George Mason who prepared a paper 
which this Committee of Safety called the Dec¬ 
laration of Rights. They made a plan by which 
Virginia should be governed. This they called 
the Constitution. The representatives from all 
the counties met to discuss these papers. This 
Constitution made Virginia a free and inde¬ 
pendent commonwealth. There were to be two 
houses, a Senate to take the place of the King's 
Council, and the House of Delegates for the 


94 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

House of Burgesses. All these members had to 
be elected by the people. At this same meeting 
Patrick Henry was named the first governor of 
Virginia. 


CHAPTER XII 


SOME FAMOUS COLONIAL HOMES AND 
CHURCHES 

There are many old homes in Virginia that 
are just as pretty now as they ever were. Many 
of them are still owned by the families of the 
first builders, but most of them have passed into 
other hands that are better able to give them the 
care they need. The history not only of Virginia 
but of colonial America could be told by the 
builders, the owners, and the visitors to those 
beautiful old homes. Stories of bravery and 
loyalty that have never been printed have been 
handed down from generation to generation. 

The Adam Thoroughgood House 
The old Thoroughgood house has stood for 
nearly three centuries on the banks of Lynn- 
haven Bay. It was built by Captain Adam Thor¬ 
oughgood about 1636, and it is believed to be 
the oldest dwelling in Virginia. Many think it 
is the oldest English-built brick house in Amer¬ 
ica. It has been kept in perfect repair, so that 

95 


96 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

the house seems to have grown there as did the 
trees and the flowers. There is a first floor with 
a lovely, large sitting room on one side of the 
hall. On the other side is the dining room. Up¬ 
stairs there are two bedrooms of the same size 



The Adam Thoroughgood House 


with many dormer windows. There are double 
walls, so wide that the whole family could hide 
within them from the Indians. In each bedroom 
there is a tiny, square opening in the brick wall. 
From these openings they fired on the Indians. 
There are big fireplaces in all four rooms. 
Next to the dining room is a closet which leads 



COLONIAL HOMES AND CHURCHES 97 

into the cellar. The Thoroughgoods used it to 
go into the underground hall when they heard 
the war whoop of the red men. It opened into 
the bay, where a boat would be waiting to carry 
them to safety. 

Adam Thoroughgood, the pioneer, settled first 
at Kecoughtan, or Hampton. When he was given 
this grant of land, he called it Norfolk, and the 
beautiful bay he called Lynnhaven. 

Westover 

Westover, on the James, is the home of the 
Byrds of Virginia. It was built by the second 
William Byrd. He was a very gallant, brave 
gentleman, and was known as the Black Swan. 

This stately, old, red brick mansion is built 
in a cluster of shade trees on the banks of the 
James. The main entrance to the grounds is at 
the rear. There is a high and wide iron gate 
which has the Byrd coat of arms. On the square 
brick posts from which hang the gates are two 
brass falcons. They are standing with their 
wings outstretched as if they were ready to fly. 
These birds, placed on the gates at Westover 
more than a hundred years ago, may have been 
a sign that there would be a Richard Byrd who 
some day would fly around the world! 

In the two hundred years since the Byrd 


98 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

family came from England and settled at the 
falls of the James River, they have served the 
country wisely and well. There were gallant 
officers, wise statesmen, and lovely ladies. 

Perhaps it is with the name of Richmond, the 
capital of Virginia, that the Byrd family is most 



Westover 


closely associated. William Byrd II of West- 
over laid out a town at the falls of the James 
and called it Richmond. No doubt he named it 
that because the site was much like that of 
Richmond on the Thames in England. 

Stratford 

Stratford, the home of the Lees of Virginia, 
is in a grove of trees on a high bluff of the Poto- 



COLONIAL HOMES AND CHURCHES 99 


mac River. You know, in those early days, when 
only the Indians were here, the king would give 
a settler a large tract of land. If he lived there 
and took care of it, it was his. It was called a 
patent or grant. That is how many of the first 



Stratford 


families of Virginia had so many acres of 
ground. 

Richard Lee, the first Lee to emigrate to 
Jamestown, was given a patent for Stratford. 
He built a lovely old home which was burned 
some years later. Several of the indented serv¬ 
ants had broken some of the colony’s riiles. 














100 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


When they were brought to trial, Thomas Lee, 
the magistrate, had to punish them. To get even 
with the magistrate, they set fire to Stratford. 
The home, his offices and papers, the barns, and 
the outhouses were all lost. In fact, Mrs. Lee 
and her child had to jump from the window. A 
little white girl, the twelve-year-old child of a 
servant, died in the flames. So the first house at 
Stratford was lost. Queen Caroline was so sorry 
when she heard of it and so well did she think 
of the Lees that she sent Thomas Lee gold to 
build another house. It is an old brick house. It 
looks like the letter H. The wings are on either 
side with a wide hall between them. Four chim¬ 
neys come from the center of each wing. They 
look like turrets. In each one there is a secret 
room. This was lost sight of for many years. 
Some time ago the chimneys were being cleaned, 
and these little secret rooms were found. They 
had been used, too. The white walls have sooty 
places from a lamp or a candle. The floor is 
spotted with ink and grease stains. 

All the rooms of this historic old home are 
large, well-lighted, and airy. The ceilings are 
high, and the walls are made of oak panels. 

The living room, the dining room, and the 
family bedrooms were on the first floor. The 
guests’ rooms, the drawing room, and the par- 


COLONIAL HOMES AND CHURCHES 101 

lors were on the second floor. A room in the 
southeast wing was the birthplace of Richard 
Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Robert 
Edward Lee. 

Around the house was the beautiful flower 
garden, and there were groups of lovely trees 
on the lawn. Of course, there were vegetable 
gardens and stockyards, and at Stratford they 
also had grape vineyards and orangeries. 

Ever since Richard Lee settled at Stratford in 
1619, a Lee has always lived there. Recently it 
has been bought by the Lee Patriotic Society. 
The buildings and grounds will be made to look 
as they did in colonial days as nearly as possible. 
Stratford will be a national shrine to the 
memory of those men who did so much to make 
Virginia and the Union a better, happier place 
in which to live. 

Some Historic Old Churches 

Bruton Parish Church is the oldest Epis¬ 
copal Church now in use in this country. It 
is a beautiful old brick church and has been 
built and rebuilt. It looks now much as it did 
when it was first built. The high pulpit is at one 
end. At the other end of the church is a gallery. 
At first the gallery was used for servants and 
Indians. Later the students of William and 


102 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

Mary sat there. The body of the church is 
divided into pews, on which are thick cushions. 
When the church was burned at Jamestown, the 
baptismal font and the Communion service were 
taken to Bruton Parish Church. It has the 
parish register dating from 1632 and three his- 



Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Days 


toric silver Communion services. Washington 
and Jefferson had pews here. Many prominent 
people were buried in the old cemetery. The bell 
in the church tower has rung for many events 
that thrilled the people of colonial days. It rang 
in 1766, when England repealed the Stamp Act ; 
it rang in 1776 with the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence; it rang when the English flag was 



COLONIAL HOMES AND CHURCHES 103 

taken down from the Capitol; it rang for the 
surrender of the English at Yorktown; it rang 
for peace with England in 1783; and it rings 
to-day for Sunday services. 

St. PauUs Church in Norfolk is a beautiful 
old brick colonial church. When the city was 
burned by the British, the only place left stand¬ 
ing was St. Paul’s. A cannon ball is still in its 
walls. 

Hampton is almost as old as Jamestown. It 
was settled quite by accident. As the men were 
out for fish, they were set upon by Kecoughtan 
Indians. They sought safety at Hampton, then 
called Kecoughtan after these Indians. The 
settlers found this a good place. The drinking 
water was much better than that at Jamestown, 
and there was plenty of game and fish. Some of 
them left Jamestown to live in Hampton. In 
the churchyard of St. John’s in Hampton, the 
tombstones name founders of the oldest English 
settlement in America. 

Pohick Church has been called the home 
church of Mount Vernon. An old church book 
shows that on November 20, 1772, “was sold by 
order of this vestry a large square pew, No. 28, 
one of the center pews adjoining the north aisle 
and next to the Communion Table, to Colonel 
George Washington at the price of sixteen 


104 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

pounds. ” Deeds for these pews were bought and 
placed on file in the court house just like deeds 
to any other property. Washington went to 
Pohick Church until the Revolution. During the 
last part of his life he went to Christ Church in 
Alexandria. 



Pohick Church 


There are many other old churches in Vir¬ 
ginia. They played a great part in the colony’s 
welfare. Many times, before taking up the af¬ 
fairs of state, the House of Burgesses spent the 
day in fasting and prayer. It was during a meet¬ 
ing of the Burgesses in St. John’s Church in 
Richmond that Patrick Henry urged that all 
men were free and equal. 



THINGS TO DO 


105 


A Game You May Like to Play 

Complete these sentences so that they will be historical 
facts. Each correct answer counts 2. 

1. The rooms in colonial homes were lighted with home¬ 
made ---. 

2. Virginia homes were copied after those in-. 

3. The oldest brick house in Virginia was- in 

1632 by Adam Thoroughgood at_Inlet. 

4. Silks and satins were got from England, but other 
-were made on the plantations. 

5. Taxes and fines were paid in pounds of-. 

6. Travel was - over Indian trails or in 

—-on the rivers. 

7. The chief pleasures of the Virginia landowners were 

-shows and-hunts. 

8. Visitors always received a warm-in Virginia 

homes. 

9. The work of old colonial plantations was done by 

10. Porches were first built because of the -. 

11. Slaves were brought to Virginia in the year of 

-by-. 

12. Slaves came to the South to live because-. 

13. The chief occupation of colonial Virginia was the 

--of the soil. 

Things You May Like to Do 

1. Build a colonial house out of beaver board and make 
all the furniture, draperies, and rugs for it. 



















106 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

2. Build a model of Williamsburg as it was in Governor 
Spottswood’s time. 

3. Make a series of posters showing the industries on a 
plantation. 

4. Collect pictures of Virginia flowers and birds. Visit 
an old flower garden. 

5. Have a “Colonial Tea” and invite the faculty and 
your parents. Wear colonial costumes and entertain 
the guests by dancing the Virginia reel, the minuet, 
and by singing old plantation songs. 

6. In your county booklet add a section for colonial life. 
Collect pictures of places and people of colonial days. 

7. Take a trip to an old home or museum. Tell the 
other members of your class about it. 

8. Make a moving picture of Colonial Life in Virginia. 


PART IV—VIRGINIA’S PART IN BUILDING 
THE NATION 

CHAPTER XIII 

INDEPENDENCE AND UNION 

When the French, the Spanish, and the In¬ 
dians banded together to take the American 
colonies from England, the colonies stood 
bravely by the mother country and proved to be 
of great help to her. Washington, as a surveyor, 
had learned to know the country and the In¬ 
dians. When the English came across the sea 
to tight for her colonies, Washington planned 
many of the attacks. Nearly all her victories 
were due to the advice of the young Virginian. 
England held her colonies, who had fought so 
hard to stay with her. 

Any one would think that the king would 
have been grateful to his young colony. But 
as soon as the war was over, he began to tax 
the colonies more than ever. The king said that 
the colonists not only must fight, but must help 

107 


108 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

to pay the bills for carrying on the French and 
Indian War. That might have been well enough 
if the colonists had been consulted about it. 
Since 1619 they had helped to govern them¬ 
selves. With each new tax that England placed 
upon them they begged to be given the right to 



Signing the Declaration of Independence 


say what they wished. The king would not hear 
of such a plan, but all England did not think as 
the king did. There were others who wanted 
him to take some of the heavy taxes off the 
colony. They tried to show him that he was 
unjust. 

The colonies loved England and did not want 
to leave her, but they could not pay the heavy 




INDEPENDENCE AND UNION 109 

taxes any longer. When the Virginia Assembly 
met in Richmond, Patrick Henry made a power¬ 
ful speech. It was simple, and yet his words, 
“Give me liberty or give me death,” aroused 
the thirteen colonies. Many letters passed be¬ 
tween England and the colonies, but nothing was 
done. Finally the great Virginian, Thomas 
Jefferson, wrote the Declaration of Independ¬ 
ence, which set forth the rights of the English 
colonies in America. 

This led to war (1776). It was a great man 
and a noble Virginian, George Washington, who 
was made commander in chief of all the Ameri¬ 
can forces. 

General Washington had had good training in 
the ways of war. He was commander in chief of 
Virginia troops in the French and Indian Wars. 
As a surveyor he knew every foot of this land. 
He had learned to know the Indians, the French, 
and his allies, the English. Soon after the war 
started, Boston was taken by the British. Wash¬ 
ington shelled the city from a high hill. The 
British commander gave up the city of Boston 
and was glad enough to get back to his ship. 
This encouraged the colonists. 

England sent over an army with plans to take 
New York. The English drove the Americans 
back, and the whole army might have been cap- 


110 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

tured if Washington had not so wisely led them. 
The British held New York and much of New 
Jersey. Washington made up his mind to attack 
the English soldiers who were in New York for 
the winter. It was so cold that they felt sure 
that the half-clothed, hungry Americans would 



The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown 

From the painting by Trumbull, in the Capitol at Washington 


not dare to fight them. It was Christmas, 1777. 
There was a heavy blizzard, and the Delaware 
River was full of floating ice, but in the face of 
it all, Washington crossed the river and sur¬ 
prised the British. Trenton, and later Princeton, 
fell into the hands of the Americans. These vic¬ 
tories gave them courage to carry on. The 



INDEPENDENCE AND UNION 


111 


Americans had asked Prance for help. She 
would not give any help because she did not 
think the poor Americans could win against 
such a great nation as England. However, when 
they heard of this great victory of George 
Washington in New Jersey, they sent ships and 
an army to help the Americans. There was re¬ 
joicing in America when Marquis de Lafayette 
joined Washington’s forces. A part of the 
English were still in New York. The other and 
greater part were in Virginia, but Washington 
made them think he was trying to regain New 
York. They could see the Americans doing 
things that all soldiers do before they enter 
battle. The British were busy keeping an eye on 
Americans on land for they had no fear of them 
on water. They knew that the colonists had no 
war vessels. The British were completely sur¬ 
prised when the French held them on water and 
the Americans on land. There was nothing else 
for the British commander, Cornwallis, to do 
but to surrender. He did so at Yorktown, Oc¬ 
tober 19, 1781. It was here in Virginia that the 
birth of the United States took place. 

There was greater work ahead for the thirteen 
colonies than they had ever done. King George 
III did not want to give them up. He had been 
very stubborn about giving the colonies their 


112 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

rights and was just as stubborn about signing a 
treaty of peace. It was two years before a treaty 
of peace was signed which would set the country 
free and give it room to grow. The treaty made 
with England gave the land east of the Missis¬ 
sippi to the new nation. It also gave them the 
right to fish oft the coast of Newfoundland. The 
Americans agreed to pay for all the private mer¬ 
chant ships that John Paul Jones and his men 
had sunk. Even then, they had gained more than 
they had hoped. 

At the beginning of the war each of the thir¬ 
teen colonies had sent some one to a meeting 
which was called the Continental Congress. This 
body of men was given the right to carry on war, 
raise an army, make paper money, and borrow 
money. They drew up a paper to show what 
rights the colonies had, although the war was 
almost over before they had signed it. This was 
called the Articles of Confederation and set 
forth the way in which the colonies were to be 
governed. The government could make treaties; 
it could raise an army, form a navy, or build 
post-offices, but it had no means of paying for 
them. It took the votes of nine of the thirteen 
states to make a law. 

After peace came, the states which had stood 
together to fight England now disputed over 


INDEPENDENCE AND UNION 


113 



The United States after the Revolution 

































114 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

little things, nearly always on account of trade. 
They were quarreling so much among them¬ 
selves that trouble must come to all. 

Again the leaders met, this time to do some¬ 
thing to help make a success of their newly won 
independence. They planned a new kind of 
government. They decided that Congress should 
be made up of two bodies: a Senate and a House 
of Representatives. Each state, large or small, 
was to have two persons in the Senate, and the 
number of Representatives for each state was to 
be based on the number of people living in the 
state. 

Who should be the head of the new nation? 
They were afraid to have a king. Some wanted 
a president. But how long should he hold office ? 
They agreed to have a president who should 
serve four years, and they decided exactly who 
could become President of the United States. 

All these laws were clearly stated in the Con¬ 
stitution, which James Madison, another Vir¬ 
ginian, helped to write. Nine of the thirteen 
colonies had to pass upon it before it could be¬ 
come a law. Many thought it took too many 
rights from the people and gave too much power 
to the President, who might become a king. 
Others did not like other things in the Consti¬ 
tution, but all knew that they had to act quickly 


INDEPENDENCE AND UNION 


115 


if the new nation was to be saved. It was decided 
to give certain rights to the states and certain 
others to the nation. When these changes had 
been made, nine of the states signed their 
willingness to accept the Constitution. Thus was 



Signing the Constitution 


born the first country to say that all men are 
free and equal before the law. 

Who was to be President of the new nation ? 
Every one of the states called for George Wash¬ 
ington, the great Virginian, to lead the new 
nation in peace as he had led it in war. He left 
his beautiful quiet home, Mt. Vernon, to take 
up the nation’s work again. On April 30, 1789, 
he took the oath of office in New York City. 

The United States of that time was by no 
means what it is to-day. It took Washington 








116 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

longer to go from Mt. Vernon to New York than 
it takes to go from New York to London to-day. 
There were not so many people in the whole 
United States as there are in New York to-day. 
Candles were used for lights. Fire was made 
by striking a flint stone with a piece of steel. 
Big trees were burned in great fireplaces. In all 
the colonies there were only a few towns. Only 
Philadelphia and Baltimore had paved streets, 
and in Boston and New York pigs and cows 
grazed where they pleased. In Virginia, Rich¬ 
mond had begun to grow, but Williamsburg, the 
colonial capital, was the finest town in the state. 
Railroads, telephones, gas, electric lights, and 
matches were unheard of. There was little or no 
machinery to save work. Everything was done 
by the farmer, his wife, and their servants. This 
was the country over which George Washington 
was asked to be President. He had no easy task 
before him. 

Virginia had given the great orator, Patrick 
Henry, to stir the colonists; Virgina had given 
Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of 
Independence; Virginia had given the brave 
General Washington to lead the Revolutionary 
army to victory; Virginia had given a great 
thinker, James Madison, to help to write a Con¬ 
stitution that stands even to-day. Now Virginia 


INDEPENDENCE AND UNION 117 

gave the man who brought the thirteen colonies 
together as no one else could have done. All 
trusted him and knew that in his hands a big 
state, a little state, his own state, or any other 
state would he treated fairly. When he had 
served the nation for eight years as President, 
many of the old sores had been healed. 

This did not end the gifts of Virginia to the 
nation. Of the first five presidents of the 
United States four were Virginians. It was 
for this that Virginia won the title of Mother of 
Presidents. Jefferson added more land to the 
nation by buying the Louisiana Territory from 
Prance so that the young country could grow. 
Madison made England see that our ships could 
sail the seas as well as hers. In 1812 the United 
States fought England for the second time and 
won. After that England seems to have learned 
the lesson which she should have known years 
before. Afterwards she treated her colonies 
better and has never lost any since. Then another 
Virginian, James Monroe, made the world know 
that the United States would look upon any 
nation of Europe as an enemy if it tried to get 
a stronger foothold on this side of the Atlantic 
Ocean. This was called the Monroe Doctrine. 
John Marshall, of Virginia, was Chief Justice 
of the United States Supreme Court. During all 


118 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

these years he gave meaning to the Constitution 
of the United States and explained the law to 
the nation. To-day judge, jury, and lawyers 
speak of what John Marshall, the great Vir¬ 
ginia jurist, thought. Virginia had other great 
men—lawyers, statesmen, and soldiers. It is not 
too much to say that no country, no race, ever 
gave such a group of men to the world as did 
Virginia at this time. They served the country 
in war and in peace, were unselfish and loyal, 
and strove to build a nation that would give 
freedom and equality to all men. And they suc¬ 
ceeded even better than they had dreamed of 
doing. 


CHAPTER XIV 


PATRICK HENRY 
1736-1799 

Patrick Henry’s father and mother came to 
America in the eighteenth century. They were 
not so wealthy as some of the great landowners 
of Virginia, but were well thought of by the 
people in their district. Colonel John Henry was 
county surveyor and, for a while, the judge of 
the county court. 

Patrick Henry was sent to a one-room county 
school until he was ten years old, but he made 
little progress in reading, writing, and arith¬ 
metic. When he was fifteen years old, his parents 
gave up the idea of making a student of him. 

At the age of eighteen he married Miss Sarah 
Shelton, went from store-keeping to farming, 
from farming to tavern-keeping, and was a 
failure at all three. The people in the community 
thought him an idle, lazy fellow who spent most 
of the time reading. 

Over and over again he read the history of 

119 


120 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


Greece, Rome, England, and our own early 
settlements. These stories of brave leaders 
stirred him to try to do something worth while. 

He made irp his mind to 
study law and become a 
great lawyer. Studying 
law in those days was no 
easy matter. There were 
no law schools, and any 
one who wanted to be a 
lawyer had to study law 
by himself or have a good 
friend who could help 
him. Every gentleman 
studied law that he might 
know how to manage his 
own business. Patrick Henry could not find any 
one to teach him law. He dug it out by himself, 
and after six weeks ’ hard study he went to W il- 
liamsburg to take the law examination for a 
license. Many people laughed at him, and others, 
who were more friendly, tried to persuade him 
not to follow the law as a profession. Patrick 
Henry knew himself better than any one else 
knew him. He passed the law tests given to him. 
When he began practicing in Hanover County, 
only three years had passed before he had his 
first big case. 




PATRICK HENRY 


121 


In those days the Church of England was the 
state church of Virginia. The people were taxed 
to pay the minister’s salary. Tobacco was used 
for money, and the clergymen were paid in 
pounds of tobacco. When the tobacco crop failed 
in 1775, the Virginia Assembly agreed that they 
could not give the clergymen as many pounds 
as the king had ordered. The clergy went to 
court to get the unpaid salary. Although the 
colonists thought the tax was too large, nobody 
was ready to fight the clergy and the king. Then 
Patrick Henry took the case. As the courthouse 
filled with people who had come to the trial, 
Patrick Henry’s friends felt sorry for him. 
Everybody was interested in the case; people 
had come from everywhere in Virginia. There 
were so many people that all of them could not 
get into the courthouse. 

On one side of the court sat more than twenty 
clergymen and their dignified lawyer. The case 
was called: The parsons against the taxpayers 
of Virginia. Their intelligent, learned lawyer 
opened the case. He praised the work of the par¬ 
sons and stated the amount of tobacco due them. 
The parsons thought that no more was needed. 
The case had come to trial, the judge would give 
the damages to the parsons, and all would be 
over. They felt sure of this when they heard that 


122 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


Patrick Henry was the colonists ’ adviser. Then 
it was Patrick Henry’s time to plead for the 
people. He was clumsy in getting up, and he 
hesitated so long that everybody thought he had 
forgotten what he had to say. They soon changed 
their opinions. Patrick Henry knew the case; 
he keenly felt the cause for which he pleaded. 
He believed that England was not granting the 
colonists the rights and privileges that they de¬ 
served. Taxes had to be paid on everything, even 
on tea brought into the colony. This was bad 
enough when the tobacco crop was good, but that 
year the crop had failed, making it doubly hard 
to pay. Patrick Henry was no longer the awk¬ 
ward, slovenly countryman. His actions were 
dignified and commanding. In his voice there 
was something magnetic. He caught the eyes and 
ears of all present. In less than twenty minutes 
the shy, awkward, ugly man had become the 
erect, noble, graceful, forceful speaker. As he 
ended his speech pleading for the rights of the 
colonists, there was deathlike stillness in the 
court room. The parsons were given damages 
of one cent. 

His father, the magistrate who presided at 
the trial, was so overcome with joy that he wept. 
Patrick Henry’s friends, who a short while be¬ 
fore had felt so embarrassed lest Patrick Henry 


PATRICK HENRY 


123 


should not be able to handle the case, rushed into 
the court room, raised him on their shoulders, 
and rushed him around the courthouse yard. 
From that time Patrick Henry had a big law 
practice made up of all classes of people. They 
liked him for his common sense, kindly nature, 



Patrick Henry in the Virginia Assembly 


tact, and wonderful power of speech, which 
brought him clients and friends. 

The parsons’ case sowed the seeds of rebellion 
in Virginia. England passed the Stamp Act, and 
the colonists did not think this was right. They 
asked to be relieved of paying this tax. England 
paid no attention to their request. When the 
House of Burgesses met, Patrick Henry led the 
discussion as to the wisdom of sending a letter 
to the mother country telling her what the 





124 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


colonists thought were their rights and duties 
and that if these rights were not considered, 
British, as well as American, freedom would he 
destroyed. The leaders of the House of Bur¬ 
gesses were thunderstruck; they did not want to 
take such harsh action. They were not ready to 
ask for independence; they only wanted the 
freedom of other Englishmen. When the reso¬ 
lutions were put to the vote, they passed by a 
small majority. They did not help to show Eng¬ 
land that she was not acting fairly to her loyal 
men across the seas. However, they did much to 
kindle loyalty and patriotism in the colonies. 

When the Virginia Convention came to Rich¬ 
mond, it met at old St. John’s Church. This 
church was used for public meetings because it 
was the largest building in the city. Again 
Patrick Henry pleaded for the rights of the 
colonists, which England seemed to have for¬ 
gotten. Patrick Henry thrilled the people with 
pride and patriotism. As he pleaded with them 
to stand for liberty and equality and freedom 
for themselves and their children, they were one 
with him. He ended his speech with the thrilling 
demand, “Give me liberty or give me death.” 

For a while during the Revolution Henry was 
commander in chief of the militia, but he re¬ 
signed to become the first governor of Virginia. 


PATRICK HENRY 125 

He was offered all sorts of positions in the new 
government, hut he preferred to serve Virginia. 

He bought Red Hill, a simple old home in 
Charlotte County. The only change he made in 
the house was to add an outside kitchen so 
that he could hear the rain patter on the roof. 
The view from Red Hill is lovely, with the Peaks 
of Otter on one side and the Valley on the other. 


CHAPTER XV 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 
1732-1799 

George Washington was born at a time when 
the aristocrats governed Virginia. He was de¬ 
scended from the early settlers who left their 
homes in England to find 
fortune and happiness in 
the New World. But 
aside from good birth, 
George Washington had 
little with which to start 
life. 

Washington was born 
at Bridge Creek, now 
called Wakefield, Febru¬ 
ary 22, 1732. The house 
was a one-story building with a large chimney 
at each end. The family did not live there very 
long, but moved to Mt. Vernon. The house 
burned, and they went to Fredericksburg, where 
Washington passed his childhood. George was 
eleven years old when his father died. 

126 





GEORGE WASHINGTON 


127 


Washington went to a little school in Fred¬ 
ericksburg, of which Mr. Hobby, sexton of the 
parish church, was the teacher. He taught 
Washington to read and write. A little later 
Washington went to live with his half-brother. 
While he was there, he took lessons in survey¬ 
ing. He returned to Fredericksburg to be with 
his mother and studied with the Reverend James 
Maury. Washington did not go to college, but 
he educated himself. He read a great deal, and, 
what is best of all, he thought about what he 
read. 

He was leader in his classes and in the games 
on the playground. These boys loved to play at 
being soldiers. They used cornstalks and old 
broomsticks for their make-believe guns. Wash-' 
ington must have been very strong. He could 
throw the heaviest disc the farthest, and he led 
in running, jumping, and wrestling. As for 
horses, there wasn’t one that was too wild for 
George to tame. All his spare time he spent on 
horseback on the trail of the fox. He stayed in 
the woods most of the time and knew all the 
Indian trails. This life of exercise made him 
grow up into a very strong man. When he was 
grown, he wore a size thirteen shoe, and his 
gloves had to be made especially for him. 

When Washington was sixteen years old, he 


128 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


had to seek some means of making a living. His 
half-brothers had inherited the land his father 
had, and there was little left for this young son. 
His one wish was to sail the high seas on a ship 
in the king’s service. This may have been due 
to the fact that his brother Lawrence had been 
an officer and he loved him very dearly. Law¬ 
rence was able to get him this much-desired 
appointment in the navy when Washington was 
only sixteen years old. He must have been an 
unusually fine boy to have been trusted with so 
much responsibility on a ship when he was so 
young. 

Washington was very happy to know that he 
was to spend his life on the seas, but his mother 
was sad when she heard the news of her son’s 
appointment in the navy. She knew he would 
not come home often, that she would rarely see 
him, and that the dangers of the ocean were very 
great. The ships were not very well built, and 
they were often wrecked by the bad windstorms. 
When Washington saw how distressed his 
mother was, he gave up his wish to enter the 
king’s service on the high seas. Again he must 
find something to do to help himself and his 
mother which need not take him from her. 

Again it was his half-brother who helped him. 
Lawrence had married the niece of Lord Fair- 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


129 


fax, a rich nobleman. The king of England had 
given him many acres of land. For many years 
he had not been able to get any one to survey 
the land. It was across the mountains, where the 
Indians lived in the hollows and were as ready 
to spring on the palefaces as the wild animals 



Mount Vernon 


were. However, this was not too hard a task for 
young George at the age of sixteen. Washington 
had a very quiet manner, but he had the same 
daring spirit that made his great-great-grand¬ 
father leave his comfortable home in England to 
seek his fortune with the colonists in Virginia. 
Washington surveyed many acres of land. The 
experience that he gained as surveyor was good 



130 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

for him, for he learned to know the Indians and 
Virginia. 

The French had come to America. They were 
in Canada and, following the water, had gone 
down the Mississippi River. England claimed 
this same piece of land. For some time no one 
could tell whether France or England would 
govern the New World. 

Washington was very young, hut England 
sent him on many dangerous trips to find out 
about the Indians and the French. He made such 
good reports that England put him in command 
of the first soldiers sent against the French in 
America. There was no danger into which he 
would not go. The Indians thought he had a 
charmed life. He served through the French 
War with the English and won many high 
honors. Had it not been for the courage, the 
daring, the ability of George Washington, Eng¬ 
land might have lost her colonies. To-day we 
might have spoken the French language, and 
known only French customs and manners. 

When peace came, Washington went home to 
Mt. Vernon, the beautiful place on the Potomac 
River that his brother Lawrence had left him. 
Washington had married Martha Custis, a rich 
widow with two children whom he loved as his 
very own. He lived the quiet, happy life of a 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


131 


rich Virginia planter. In peace he served as a 
member of the House of Burgesses, which met 
at Williamsburg, the capital in those days. 

When it was finally decided that the colonies 
had to go to war against England, Washington 
was made commander in chief of the American 
forces. From the time he took command of the 
army at Cambridge. Massachusetts, until the 
time Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown 
he went through many trials and sorrows. Many 
times his men were without food, shelter, cloth¬ 
ing, and they were unpaid, but they always had 
faith in their leader. The whole country idolized 
him. He had proved himself to be the strongest 
man in the English colony. Finally the revolu¬ 
tion was over, and again Washington gave up 
his commission to return to his home at Mt. 
Vernon. 

After all this pain of breaking the old ties 
with England, he did not want to see the colonies 
quarrel with one another. From the days when 
he was a surveyor he knew the country. His 
dream was that the thirteen colonies should join 
to make one united country. In time they would 
reach out for land on the other side of the Blue 
Ridge, and all that unknown region would be a 
part of the United Colonies. A new government 
was formed, and Washington was made head of 


132 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


it. Feeling that it was his duty to help to build 
the nation, he became President for two terms 
of four years each. At the end of this time Wash¬ 
ington had proved himself to be as great in peace 
as he had been in war. 

He found the colonies weak from the war 
which had been waged against a big country by a 
little handful of men who thought they were not 
treated fairly. Now these colonies were fighting 
among themselves. Each was afraid of the 
honesty of the others. After eight years as Presi¬ 
dent of the United States, Washington left office 
with the country well organized. The colonies 
united with one government for all. The western 
posts once held by the English were ours, and 
there was no reason why the United States 
should not spread to the West. 

Washington had helped to build, on the ruins 
of the old royal government, a new one which 
considered all men free and equal. No man in 
the history of the United States has had such a 
record as that of Washington. He was a poor 
boy who could not go to school after he was six¬ 
teen years old because he had to take care of his 
mother. From childhood to the end of his life, 
Washington proved himself to be unselfish and 
thoughtful, daring and brave, kind and gentle— 
the soul of honor and truth. 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 133 

After more than one hundred and fifty years 
we speak of George Washington as the Father 
of His Country. No matter who tells the story 
of the United States’ becoming independent, no 
matter whether it is a long story or a short one, 
the name of George Washington stands at the 
forefront. No matter how much we read or hear 
about the things he did, we cannot begin to 
know what he meant to us and to all mankind. 
“Light Horse Harry” Lee gave us some idea of 
his greatness when he said, “Washington was 
first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen.” 


CHAPTER XYI 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 
1743-1826 

Peter Jefferson and his wife had within them 
the spirit of the pioneer. Tidewater and the 
James River sections were the only good places 
in which to have a home 
in the New World. Only 
a few men dared to hunt 
on the mountain side, 
and these hunters told 
such tales on their return 
that no man would risk 
taking his family into the 
forest. 

Peter Jefferson and 
William Randolph, who 
lived at Tuckahoe on the 
James, planned to get 
some of the land in the 
foothills of the Blue Ridge. They staked out the 
land and laid claim to it. The royal governor, 

134 



Thomas Jefferson 




THOMAS JEFFERSON 135 

through the king, gave a grant of many acres to 
them. Peter Jefferson built his home at Shad- 
well, where he took his bride. It took brave 
hearts to make this their home, far away from 
their friends. 

Here at Shadwell Thomas Jefferson was born. 
When he was only two years old, his father had 
to close his own home to go to Tuckahoe to live. 
His dear friend and brother-in-law, William 
Randolph, had died. He had asked Peter Jeffer¬ 
son to look out for his family, to see that they 
kept the land granted to them. Mr. Jefferson 
knew that he could do better by his family and 
the Randolphs if he lived at Tuckahoe than he 
could if he lived at Shadwell. 

The Jeffersons lived at Tuckahoe for seven 
years. In a little red brick schoolhouse that is 
still standing there, Thomas Jefferson learned 
reading and writing and arithmetic. He was a 
very bright pupil in school and did all the things 
the other boys did. 

By that time his father was able to go back 
to Shadwell to live. Thomas was sent to Louisa 
to school, where he began to learn Latin, Greek, 
and French. Later he went to the Reverend 
James Maury, who also taught Madison and 
Monroe, and who was the grandfather of Mat¬ 
thew Fontaine Maury. 


136 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

Jefferson loved the mountains. He learned to 
know the trees and all the land on his father’s 
many hundreds of acres. A search for the hoy 
would find him hunting for something new on 
the plantation. There was a mountain that he 
loved to climb. From the top of it he could see 
the river, the valley, and the rolling hills below. 
He loved it all. 

And then Jefferson’s father died. All these 
acres were the boy’s. At fourteen years of age 
he was very rich in land. He knew he needed 
more education to carry on his father’s work. 
At this time there were several colleges in the 
colonies. He got the consent of his guardian to 
go to William and Mary College (1760). He 
loved the life at Williamsburg, which was the 
center of the government of Virginia. There 
were always good times for the students at Wil¬ 
liam and Mary when the belles of Virginia 
visited the colonial capital with their fathers. 
He went to William and Mary College for two 
years and for five years studied law from the 
great teacher, George Wythe. 

The mountains called him, and he went back 
to Shadwell. He dreamed of a great house on 
top of his dearly loved mountain. This dream 
came true thirty years later when Monticello 
was built. 


THOMAS JEFFERSON 137 

While he was away on one of his many trips, 
Shadwell, the old home, burned to the ground. 
His mother, his brother, and his sister moved 
into the overseer's house. On top of his little 
mountain he built a one-room brick house, where 
he lived for several years. Later he took his 
bride there. The Jeffersons were married a hun¬ 
dred miles away in tidewater and set off for 
Monticello. When they were eight miles from 
the cottage, they ran into a terrible snowstorm. 
The wheels of the carriage could not turn. They 
left the carriage by the roadside. Jefferson 
mounted his horse and, with his bride strapped 
to him, made the way up the winding path to the 
door of their cottage on top of the mountain. 
It was midnight, and the servants had gone to 
bed many hours before. The house was locked, 
the lights were out, and the fires were covered. 
It did not take Jefferson long to get into the 
cottage, and they were soon warm and com¬ 
fortable. Martha cooked the supper while Jeffer¬ 
son played his violin. In short time there were 
food, laughter, light, and warmth in this honey¬ 
moon cottage. 

For many years, from this little cottage they 
watched the workmen saw the lumber and make 
the brick that went into the building of the man¬ 
sion. Martha Jefferson did not live to see the 


138 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

lovely home finished, but Jefferson’s daugh¬ 
ters and their children were at Monticello nearly 
all the time. Until he was a very old man, he 
played games and told stories to his grandchil- 



Monticello 


dren. The more children, the merrier was Monti¬ 
cello. He loved them all. 

In the making of the United States into a 
sound nation, no one has done more than 
Thomas Jefferson. The colony that was born at 
Jamestown, Virginia, May 13, 1607, was now a 
hundred and sixty-nine years old. There were 
thirteen thrifty English colonies peopled from 
many different countries. Most of them had left 
their native homes either in search of wealth or 
to worship God as they pleased. Virginians had 
been given more rights from the king than had 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 139 

other colonists. As early as 1619 they had had 
some voice in their own government. 

But Virginians were unwilling to pay taxes 
without being given a chance to say how they 
should be spent. There were a stamp tax, a tea 
tax, a tobacco tax, and, in fact, a tax on nearly 
everything. It was too much. Thomas Jefferson 
was one of the great thinkers of that time and 
had the gift of knowing how to write about the 
things he thought. When a committee was named 
to write to the king, Thomas Jefferson wrote the 
letter. It was called the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence and was sent to George III, King of 
England (July 4, 1776). The king was very 
angry with the little colony that dared to send 
him such a letter. Forces came by land and by 
sea to whip these independent colonists. Of all 
the people it was Jefferson that the king hated 
most because he had written the Declaration of 
Independence. He gave an order to capture him, 
to take his lands away, and to bring him to 
England. 

The “Redcoats’ ? did everything they could to 
get into Virginia, for it was the daring of Vir¬ 
ginia leaders that had done so much to bring 
about the Revolution. Governor Jefferson had 
invited the General Assembly to come to Monti- 
cello, since it seemed to be a safer place than 


140 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

Richmond, and all were assembled there. Jack 
Jouett was at Cuckoo, thirty-five miles away. As 
he looked across the hills, he saw the British 
general, Tarleton, and his troops riding through 
the forests. They were on their way to surprise 
Jefferson and to take him and all the mem¬ 
bers of the General Assembly prisoners. Jouett 
jumped on his favorite riding-horse and raced 
over muddy roads and up the mountains to 
tell Jefferson that the Redcoats were coming. 
Through the covered tunnel that Jefferson had 
built to go to his slave quarters in bad weather, 
the men escaped to the mountain side. 

Jefferson was always doing something good 
for the people of Virginia and of the nation. 
Virginia had a law like England’s, that the old¬ 
est child inherited all the property of his par¬ 
ents. Jefferson thought that a father should have 
the right to do what he wished with his property, 
to give as much or as little to each child as that 
child deserved. It was not long before the Gen¬ 
eral Assembly of Virginia had done away with 
the old English custom. 

Everybody was taxed to keep up the Episco¬ 
pal Church, to pay the clergymen, and to build 
and repair the churches. J efferson saw that this 
was not right. There were people in Virginia of 
every faith. He thought they had just as much 


THOMAS JEFFERSON 141 

right to freedom in church and state as the mem¬ 
bers of the Episcopal Church. He worked for 
this ideal a long time, and finally the bill was 
passed which gave equal rights to all people no 
matter what religion they had. Thomas Jeffer¬ 
son thought two of the greatest things he had 
done in his busy life were to write the Declara¬ 
tion of Independence and to have the Bill of 
Religious Liberty passed. 

He was sent to Europe to get help for the colo¬ 
nies during the Revolution, and afterwards was 
sent as Ambassador to France. He was Secre¬ 
tary of State when George Washington was 
President, served as Vice President, and later 
had two terms as President. 

While he was President, Jefferson bought the 
Louisiana Territory from Prance. This big tract 
of land gave the United States much room in 
which to grow, and later he sent Lewis and 
Clark to push the border to the far West. 

There seem to be no end to Jefferson’s good 
deeds. In his old age he built the University of 
Virginia in Charlottesville, at the foot of his 
mountain. He planned the course of studies and 
the building, which is simple and beautiful. If 
Jefferson loved anything more than he did Mon- 
ticello, it was the University of Virginia. 

Thomas Jefferson passed away on July 4th, 


142 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

fifty years after he wrote the Declaration of 
Independence. He is buried next to his wife in 
the family burying ground a few hundred feet 
from his much-loved Monticello. ‘ ‘ Here was bux - 
ied Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declara¬ 
tion of Independence, the Statute of Virginia 
for Religious Freedom, and Father of the Uni¬ 
versity of Virginia,” are the words which are 
carved on his tombstone at his request. 

These words, if any could, show the kind of 
man he really was. He did not wish to be remem¬ 
bered for the honors he had held, the high offices 
he had filled. Jefferson prized above all else 
what he had done to help others: his work to 
make all men equal, his work to let each man 
believe in God as he wished, and his work to give 
all boys in Virginia the privilege of a college 
education. 

Thomas Jefferson, the seer of Monticello, was 
one of the world’s greatest and noblest men. Vir¬ 
ginia and the nation have the stamp of Jefferson 
upon them. In all laws that brought liberty, 
equality, and brotherhood to Virginians and to 
the nation, Jefferson’s hand is seen. His beloved 
home Monticello has been made a shrine to his 
memory, the great democratic statesman of 
Virginia. 


CHAPTER XVII 


JAMES MADISON 
1751-1836 

James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were 
close neighbors, just as their fathers before 
them had been. 

James Madison got his 
early schooling from the 
parson in the neighbor¬ 
hood and his higher edu¬ 
cation from Princeton 
University in New Jersey. 

Mr. and Mrs. Madison 
were very religious and 
sent their young son 
James to Princeton where 
they were sure that he 
would not get any other 
idea of God than the one 
that they had. The long journey to Princeton 
was made in a stagecoach. There were ho fre¬ 
quent visits home. This decision was a hard one 

143 



James Madison 



144 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

for the parents and the boy, but it was thought 
to be for his good, and the separation had to be 
borne. 

Madison returned to Virginia a very quiet, 
dignified, educated gentleman. Like most Vir¬ 
ginia gentlemen he wanted to study law; so he 
went to William and Mary to Professor Wythe’s 
law class. 

By this time there was much unhappiness in 
the colony. His friend, Thomas Jefferson, had 
penned the Declaration of Independence, after 
which the Revolution was fought and won. 
James Madison, living at Montpelier, in the 
next county, framed the Constitution of the 
United States. The two papers, thought to be 
the most valuable in the United States, were 
written by two Virginians who had been neigh¬ 
bors and friends since childhood. 

James Madison is known as the Father of the 
Constitution. Never before in the history of man 
had there been “a government of the people, by 
the people, and for the people.” The Constitu¬ 
tion named the officers of the new nation and told 
who could hold the offices. It named the rights 
and duties that were the people’s : those that be¬ 
longed to the nation and those that belonged to 
the states. Since 1787 that Constitution with 


JAMES MADISON 145 

very few changes has been in use. It took a very 
wise man to write it. 

Madison had been a member of Congress and 
was in Jefferson’s Cabinet as Secretary of State. 
It was often bis duty to set other nations right 
when they tried to take advantage of bis coun¬ 
try’s weakness. 

Just about this time be married a Quaker 
widow, Dolly Todd. They lived at Montpelier. 
Their home was very lovely, and the grounds 
around it were beautiful. Montpelier was known 
far and near for the charm of Mrs. Madison, the 
wisdom of Mr. Madison, and the kindness of 
both. 

After Mr. Jefferson bad served the country 
for two terms, Mr. Madison was made Presi¬ 
dent. For some time the stronger nations bad 
been trying to make the United States bow her 
proud young bead. She would not. No one bad 
acted in a more unfriendly way than England. 
She bad many ships, and we bad only a few. So 
every time the English sailors met a United 
States boat, they stopped it. If they found an 
Englishman aboard, be would be taken prisoner. 
And, of course, England claimed everybody as 
Englishmen. 

Mr. Madison got tired of all that. Small as we 
were and large as they were, be sent word to 


146 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

them that the “freedom of the seas” was ours 
and that he meant to fight for it (1812). For the 
second time England went to war with us. Some 
people called it “Mr. Madison’s war.” Anyway, 
he made England see that she could not trouble 
any ships flying the red, white, and blue flag of 
the United States. Since that time we have lived 
very happily with the English as our friends. 

The White House was burned when the Eng¬ 
lish set fire to Washington. So Madison spent 
the rest of his term of office in a large pri¬ 
vate home. When his second term was over, he 
went back to Montpelier to live. Until the end, 
life was most pleasant there. He took part in 
everything for the good of Virginia and of the 
nation. He was interested in farming, in books, 
and in his friends. There with his wife, the Ne¬ 
gro slaves, the birds, flowers, trees, and plants 
that he loved so dearly, James Madison, fifth 
President of the United States, died. On this old 
plantation Madison and his wife are buried in 
the old family graveyard. A simple marble shaft 
placed there by his friends shows the resting 
place of the Father of the Constitution. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


JAMES MONROE 
1758-1831 

James Monroe was eighteen years old when 
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of In¬ 
dependence. For some years the people here had 
been very unhappy be¬ 
cause England would not 
give them certain rights 
and privileges. So, ever 
since he could remember, 

Monroe had heard these 
older men talk about 
government. He did not 
live far from J effer¬ 
son and Madison. When 
Patrick Henry gave his 
speech at St. John’s 
Church, which still stands 
in Richmond, James 
Monroe was fired with the desire for independ¬ 
ence. He was going to the College of William 

147 




148 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


and Mary, but laid down his books to take up 
the gun in defence of the rights and liberty of 
the colony. At once he became a lieutenant in 
the Third Virginia Regiment and fought with 
Washington’s army at Harlem Heights, White 
Plains, and Trenton. Monroe, although very 
young, was brave and courageous, like all those 
great men of Piedmont, Virginia. His deeds 
were so daring that he was rapidly promoted 
from post to post. 

At this time Thomas Jefferson was governor 
of Virginia. He had become very fond of young 
Major Monroe, who was reading law with him. 
Jefferson was interested in Monroe’s views and 
politics, and it is no doubt due to this close 
friendship with Jefferson that Monroe did, 
while he was so young, what it often took others 
a long time to do. Of course, all gentlemen in 
those days read law, not because they expected 
to practice law, but because their plantations 
were big businesses. It was necessary to know 
how to conduct their affairs legally, even though 
they were miles from a lawyer. 

Monroe became a member of the Virginia 
Assembly which was to decide upon a constitu¬ 
tion for the United States. Some of the mem¬ 
bers wanted the Constitution just as it had been 
written by James Madison of Montpelier, but 


JAMES MONROE 149 

there were others who feared that it was giving 
the government too much power. They had suf¬ 
fered so much at the hands of the king of Eng¬ 
land that they were not easily led into the con¬ 
trol of any great power. Monroe made a speech 
explaining the rights of each state. The Consti¬ 
tution was adopted with the ten Amendments 
allowing each state to have the rights for which 
Monroe had so earnestly pleaded. 

Monroe gave up his military life to go into 
training in the business of government. Almost 
as soon as he had been made a member of the 
Senate, Washington asked him to become Min¬ 
ister to France. He gladly gave up his seat in 
the Senate to carry on this piece of work. 

In 1776, when America went to war to win 
her independence, only thirteen little colonies 
on the Atlantic seaboard belonged to England. 
The great land through the middle of the coun¬ 
try was owned by France, and French was 
spoken. The great stretch from the Rockies to 
the Pacific Ocean and Florida, too, belonged to 
Spain, and Spanish was spoken. There were a 
dozen tribes of Indians roaming through moun¬ 
tains and prairies and holding the land as long 
as they could from the English, French, and 
Spanish, who pushed them back step by step. 


150 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

Jefferson saw that it was necessary to own more 
land if the young nations was to grow. 

He sent James Monroe to France to offer 
to buy the Louisiana Territory in the New 
World. Napoleon took fifteen million dollars for 



Monroe’s Law Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia 


this large tract. Then Monroe went to Spain 
to buy, for the United States, the land that is 
now called Florida. In that he was not entirely 
successful, but a few years later it was added to 
the Union. When Monroe returned from abroad, 
Madison was President, and he offered Monroe 
a place in his Cabinet. 




JAMES MONROE 


151 


Monroe had held public office ever since he 
was eighteen years old, when he became a lieu¬ 
tenant in the Revolutionary army. He had held 
nearly every position in his state and in the na¬ 
tion that carried work and honor with it, until 
at the age of fifty-nine he was elected President. 
He was so well liked by every one that both par¬ 
ties voted for him. During his term of office the 
Seminole Indians in Florida made so many 
raids on her borders that the United States sol¬ 
diers were called to drive the Indians off. Flor¬ 
ida, settled by the Spanish before the English 
settlement at Jamestown, became a part of the 
United States. 

Probably the greatest thing that Monroe did 
was to issue the Monroe Doctrine. In a message 
to Congress he set forth three rules about the 
way Europe should act toward America and the 
way we should act toward Europe. He said 
(1) that no more European colonies should be 
planted in the New World, (2) that Europe 
should not meddle in American affairs or try 
to conquer any of the small republics in North 
or South America, and (3) that the United 
States would not interfere in European affairs. 
The Monroe Doctrine was really a declaration to 
the world that America was to be for Americans. 

There was new trouble brewing right here at 


152 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

home. The states began to be jealous of each 
other. The South had slaves to help in the cot¬ 
ton, rice, and tobacco fields. The North did not 
have slaves, and they did not want the Negroes 
to count as people in Congressional elections. 
Monroe made a compromise with the disputing 
states: those states coming into the Union below 
a certain place could have slaves; those above 
could not. This compromise was generally ap¬ 
proved, and by it James Monroe held the Union 
together a while longer. 

Monroe’s eight years at the White House were 
busy and happy ones. No man had taken a more 
active part in building the foundations of the 
new country. Even after he had returned to his 
beautiful old home at Oak Hill, in London 
County, he became again a member of the Vir¬ 
ginia Constitutional Convention and a justice of 
the peace of his own district. No work of the 
government was too small or too big for this 
great Virginia statesman to do with honor to 
himself and to the nation. 

Of the first five Presidents of the United 
States, four were the sons of Virginia: Wash¬ 
ington, who led the army to victory and became 
the first president; Madison, writer of the Con¬ 
stitution of the United States; Jefferson, writer 
of the Declaration of Rights, author of the first 


JAMES MONROE 153 

bill for Religious Freedom, and founder of the 
University of Virginia; Monroe, who strength¬ 
ened the seaboards of the nation. Surely Vir¬ 
ginia made a worthy contribution in buil ding 
the nation, a contribution that has meant much 
to all mankind. 


CHAPTER XIX 


JOHN PAUL JONES 
1747-1792 

England is almost an island. To protect her¬ 
self from the Spanish and French enemies so 
close at hand, she had to have many boats. More 
battles were fought on the 
water than on land, for 
she had so little land and 
so much water. In 1776, 
when the colonies said 
they were free, England 
was “ mistress of the 
seas” because she had 
more ships than any other 
nation. During the time 
of peace the colonies could 
go into port under Eng¬ 
land’s protection, but as 
soon as they went to war 
with her, things were different. 

The colonists had trading vessels to carry cot- 
154 



John Paul Jones 



JOHN PAUL JONES 


155 


ton and tobacco to other lands and to bring back 
the things needed at home. They had never built 
any warships because there had been no need for 
them. And it would take a very long time to 
build a ship that could fight those big ones that 
the English had. Everybody who could used his 
own private trading boat to go out to fire on the 
English merchant ships. These boats were called 
privateers and did much good. Still, the colonists 
needed more protection than these little boats 
could give, and a committee was named to see 
what could be done to get a naval force. 

At that time a young Scotchman, John Paul, 
was living with his brother near Fredericksburg. 
Before he came to America, he had spent his life 
as an English seaman. He felt the cause of the 
colony to be a just one and threw in his lot with 
them. When the committee met in Philadelphia, 
they asked John Paul to tell them all about the 
English navy. He told them that we could not 
hope to win the war on the water, as England 
had many large boats, but that we could worry 
her by keeping several small boats in English 
waters. The committee took his advice and or¬ 
dered thirteen frigates, to carry from thirty-two 
to thirty-six guns. These frigates, with two old 
ships, the Alfred and the Columbus , and two 
brigs, the Andria Doria and the Cabot, formed 


156 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

the United States navy that made war on Eng¬ 
land in 1776. 

When John Paul left Virginia to carry on the 
war in English waters, he called himself John 
Paul Jones. No one knows why. It is thought 
that he added a name to his own so that the Eng¬ 
lish would not know who he was. He took the 
name of Jones, it is thought, because it was that 
of a dearly loved neighbor of his brother in 
Virginia. 

John Paul Jones went up and down the coast 
of England and Scotland. He could not do much 
damage with his little ships, hut he teased the 
people. They did not know what could or would 
happen next. When he was crossing the Irish 
Channel he met the Drake, an English sloop of 
war that was much better and bigger than the 
American boat. There was some sharp fighting, 
and John Paul Jones took the seamen prisoners 
and towed the Drake into a French port. The 
people could hardly believe their eyes. They had 
never expected anything like this to happen. 

This prize of war, which set all the world talk¬ 
ing, made John Paul Jones dare to do more. He 
knew that if he could win a great victory on the 
sea, other nations would be quicker to help the 
colonies. He tried to get the colonists to buy a 
large war vessel, but they did not have money 


JOHN PAUL JONES 


157 


to buy any more boats. Washington was having 
a hard enough time feeding and clothing the 
army. At last Jones got King Louis XVI to help 
the English colonists by giving them an old mer¬ 
chantman, the Durcts. In a short time he had it 
all ready to put to sea. He changed the name 



The “Bon Homme Richard” and the “Serapis” 


from Bur as to Bon Homme Richard in honor 
of Benjamin Franklin, who was in France to 
get help for America. All that summer he wor¬ 
ried England’s coast towns, but did not do much 
else. Then one morning were sighted two men- 
of-war taking a convoy of forty merchant ships 
to Scarborough Head. Hid the Bon Homme 
Richard seek safety? Indeed it did not. It gave 






158 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

chase. The merchant ships got away, but the 
men-of-war, the Serapis and the Countess of 
Scarborough, came up to fight. They thought it 
would be easy to take John Paul Jones and his 
fleet of five little ships. To the English it was 
almost a joke, but they.soon changed their opin¬ 
ions. At one time the firing upon the Bon 
Homme Richard stopped, and Captain Pearson 
signalled to Captain Jones to ask if they had 
had enough. Jones called back, “No, I have not 
yet begun to fight. ” 

He brought the Bon Homme Richard close to 
the Serapis, and the Americans went over. 
There was fierce, hand-to-hand fighting. John 
Paul Jones took the Serapis, and Captain Pear¬ 
son struck his own colors. 

They tried to save the Bon Homme Richard, 
but she sank the next day. 


CHAPTER XX 


JACK JOUETT 
1754-1822 

Jack Jouett’s grandfather was the first of the 
family to come to America from his home in 
France, which he left because the government 
would not let him worship God as he wished. He 
came to Virginia and bought one hundred acres 
of land near Charlottesville. 

The Jouetts were among the first to advocate 
the Declaration of Independence. When war 
came, father and four sons joined the Virginia 
state militia. Matthew, the oldest son, fell at the 
battle of Brandywine. The others served the 
state as many a brave man did. But it was Jack 
Jouett, Jr., who made such a daring ride that 
the fame of the family has come down to us. 

The English were trying to capture the Gen¬ 
eral Assembly because the Virginians had had 
such a big part in bringing about the war. A 
price had been placed on Governor Thomas Jef- 

159 


160 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


ferson’s head, and they meant to get him, dead 
or alive. 

The General Assembly fled from Williams¬ 
burg to Richmond and then to Monticello. 
Among the forty members there were three 
signers of the Declaration of Independence: 
Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Nelson, Benjamin 
Harrison. Patrick Henry was there, too. Corn¬ 
wallis kept moving to the mountains, where the 
Virginia Assembly was meeting. He sent Tarle- 
ton with one hundred and eighty dragoons and 
seventy infantry to get Jefferson and the forty 
men. Jack Jouett, the jolly young captain in the 
Virginia militia, happened to be at the tavern at 
Cuckoo, and he spied Tarleton and his men com¬ 
ing through the woods. He hid himself in the 
bushes until they got safely by, and then he 
jumped on his bay mare and galloped to warn 
the governor. 

Jouett knew that the British would travel 
over the main road; so he took the old road, an 
old Indian trail that had not been used for many 
years. It was very hard to travel over, but beau¬ 
tiful to see, with large oaks, tall pines, dogwood, 
thick ferns, vines, broomsedge, and wild flowers 
making it a glorious wilderness. The road led to 
the river and then to Monticello. At times it 
seemed that the rider could not get through the 


JACK JOUETT 


161 


thick forest. His aim was to make these forty- 
five miles before Tarleton could. He rode all 
night, and at daybreak he came to Milton, a 
short distance from Monticello. He rode through 
the village crying, “The British are coming.'' 
The people of the place knew Jack well. He was 
a j°Uy, gay, young fellow, always ready for a 
good joke. When they heard him crying aloud, 
they said, “That's one of Jack Jouett's jokes." 
At last they saw that he was not playing a prank, 
but that the English were almost there. In ten 
minutes more Jouett was at Monticello in time 
to save Governor Jefferson and all but seven of 
his men. 

General Stevens, a member of the House, was 
staying at Swan Tavern. He had been badly 
wounded in the leg. He did not want to fall into 
the enemy's hands; so Jack Jouett dressed him 
up like a workman and jjlaced him on a bony, 
hungry-looking horse. The English rode right 
by the great general to get to Jouett, who was 
dressed up in fine clothes and wore a fine hat and 
plume to make them think that he was a high- 
ranking officer. They gave chase to him. He 
teased them a bit to give the old general plenty 
of time to get away. Then he put his spurs to his 
thoroughbred mare that had served him so well, 
and they were safe in the thick forest. Tarleton's 


162 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

army was held in check by a party of Virginia 
militia at Rockfish Gap. 

When peace came, the House of Delegates 
remembered Jack Jouett’s famous ride. They 
sent him “an elegant sword and a pair of pistols 
as a memorial for timely information. ’ ’ 

The history of the world has given no more 
daring ride than that of Jack Jouett. He rode 
through the black forests without fear of Indi¬ 
ans or wild animals, along a trail that was often 
hidden by wild grapevines. Until the end of his 
days he had scars on his face which were made 
by the houghs of trees as he rode through them. 
Had it not been for Jack Jouett’s brave and 
timely ride, there would have been no Jefferson 
to help to bring peace, happiness, and success to 
the American people. 


CHAPTER XXI 


JOHN MARSHALL 
1755-1835 

John Marshall was a boy of the mountains. 
His father had a small farm near Manassas Gap 
in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The farm was 
small, but his family was 
large. There were fifteen 
children, hut Colonel Mar¬ 
shall managed so well that 
he gave them all a good 
education. John read law. 

The first time John 
Marshall left his farm in 
Fauquier County was 
when he joined the Vir¬ 
ginia troops at the begin¬ 
ning of the Revolution. 

He was made a lieuten¬ 
ant of minute men who 
marched down to tidewater to help in the battle 
at Great Bridge. 

Marshall was not a very good-looking man, 

163 




164 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


but be bad a very fine disposition. During tbe 
war be suffered as tbe other men did. He 
tramped through deep snow and hardly bad 
clothes to cover him, but be was always good- 
natured, and when it was darkest, John Marshall 
was most cheerful. He would sit by the campfire 
and tell all sorts of funny stories to make the 
boys laugh. For a time they would forget their 
sufferings and pains. Marshall was a splendid 
soldier, but his greatest service was his cheerful 
courage in the face of trouble. 

John Marshall came back to Virginia when 
the war was over to take the law examination. 
It was not long before the Virginians saw that 
they had in Marshall another builder for the 
nation. For several terms he was an active mem¬ 
ber of the General Assembly of Virginia. They 
thought so highly of his opinions that he did 
much to have the convention ratify the Federal 
Constitution. 

Strange as it may seem to-day, in 1787 , when 
the Constitution was written, the greatest fear 
the colonists had was that some one might 
wish to make himself king. They had fought to 
throw off royal power and did not mean to have 
another king if it could be helped. The Consti¬ 
tution was bitterly fought by all the colonies. 
Although it was drafted by a Virginian, ^sorne 


JOHN MARSHALL 


165 


were for it and others against it. Before it 
became the Constitution, ten amendments were 
added so that the rights of states should he safe¬ 
guarded. 

John Marshall had served his country during 
the war and sat at the meetings that decided on 
the foundation of our government, but he had 
refused to take any public office. Finally he was 
persuaded to go to France with two other repre¬ 
sentatives to settle a dispute that the new coun¬ 
try was having with their former ally, France. 
When he returned to the United States, Vir¬ 
ginia sent him to Congress; hut he did not stay 
there long. He became Secretary of State in 
President Adams’s cabinet, and before he had 
been there a year, he was appointed Chief Jus¬ 
tice of the United States Supreme Court. 

This simple, brave, honest man had a great 
intellect. While Virginia Presidents were help¬ 
ing to make a strong country, he was explaining 
the Constitution and the law. So much did the 
people think of his decisions that Chief Justice 
Marshall’s opinions continue to be guides in 
legal matters. He was a very great man in the 
eyes of the world, but John Marshall never 
thought that of himself. He was always the 
friendly gentleman, who dressed plainly, lived 
simply, and was a loyal friend. 


166 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


Games You May Like to Play 
Game I 

Write beside the name of each event the name of the 
person usually connected with it. Every correct answer 
will count 2 on your score. 

1. The Declaration of Independence. 

2. Commander in chief of the Revolutionary army. 

3. Constitution of the United States. 

4. Virginia Bill of Rights. 

5. Forming the first navy. 

7. St. John’s Church, Richmond, Virginia. 

The highest possible score is 14; the lowest, 0. 


Game II 

Write an outstanding event in the life of each person 
on the same line with the name. Each correct answer will 
count 2. 

1. John Paul Jones 

2. George Washington 

3. Jack Jouett 

4. George Mason 

5. James Madison 

6. Patrick Henry 

7. John Marshall 

8. Thomas Wythe 

9. James Monroe 

10. Thomas Jefferson 

Your highest possible score is 20. 


THINGS TO DO 


167 


Game III 

Complete these sentences so that they are true. Each cor¬ 
rect answer counts 2. 

1. George Washington won the name “Father of His 

Country” because he_. 

2. The Declaration of Independence was written by 
-in 1776. 

3. James Madison is called- of the _be¬ 

cause he wrote it. 

4. Virginia is called-of-because four of 

the first five were Virginians. 

5. Jack Jouett rode from Cuckoo to Monticello to save 

-and the-from the English army. 

Things You May Like to Do 

1. Dramatize the meeting of the House of Burgesses at 
St. John’s Church. 

2. Collect pictures of Virginians who had leading parts 
in the making of our nation. 

3. Make a list of the people in your county whose fore¬ 
fathers were in Virginia in 1776. 

4. Celebrate the birthdays of the Virginia leaders. You 
may dramatize the stories of their lives, give plays 
about them, have receptions, and do many other inter¬ 
esting things. 










PART V—VIRGINIA’S PART IN OPENING 
THE WEST 

CHAPTER XXII 

PUSHING BACK THE WESTERN FRON¬ 
TIER 

To-day the West means that part of the United 
States which lies between the Rocky Mountains 
and the Pacific Coast, where, of course, all the 
people speak the same language that we do and 
work and play under the same flag that we do on 
the Atlantic Coast. In the West there are big 
cities and busy people, rich mines and large 
plantations, orange orchards and beautiful rose 
gardens. In the West life is lived just as we live 
it in the East. 

Three hundred years ago the West meant the 
land beyond the mountains, but those mountains 
were our own Blue Ridge in Piedmont, Virginia. 
The other side of these mountains was unknown 
land to the first settlers in Jamestown, Wil¬ 
liamsburg, and Yorktown. Surveyors and hunt¬ 
ers sometimes returned to tell of the wild and 
168 


PUSHING BACK THE WEST 


169 


beautiful country, but for almost a hundred 
years the Blue Ridge Mountains were the fron¬ 
tier of the English settlement. 

The colonists knew that on the other side there 
were many fierce tribes of Indians fighting to 
hold their land, that the Spaniards had settled 
on the Pacific Coast, and that the French were 
on the shores of the Mississippi river. But how 
far away the river and the ocean were no one 
knew. 

Thus it was that three hundred years ago, 
there were three nations of Europe struggling 
to get a foothold in the New World. While some 
Virginians were busy helping to build a strong 
government, there were others whose courage 
and loyalty helped to push its frontiers from 
ocean to ocean. Some of this land was gained 
through war treaties, some of it was bought, and 
a great tract was taken by explorers. In all these 
events Virginians played noble, loyal, and unsel¬ 
fish parts. 

When Governor Spottswood and his brave 
knights swept across the Blue Ridge and looked 
down upon the valley, the frontier had been 
pushed back and the Alleghany Mountains had 
become the boundary of the West. Those high 
rugged peaks held the colonists until the Revo¬ 
lutionary War. England came down through 


170 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

Canada and laid claim to all this unknown land. 
When he heard of this, George Rogers Clark, a 
friend and close neighbor of Thomas Jefferson 
and James Madison, got together a party of 
loyal colonists who were willing to give their 
lives to spread liberty and equality to all men. 
The United States had no money to give them; 
so Clark bought clothing, food, and guns for 
them with money of his own. They set out to 
hold the land that England claimed, since it be¬ 
longed to the Union just as much as the thir¬ 
teen colonies did. Sir Walter Raleigh had taken 
all the country from the sea to the “ Great 
River,” and named it Virginia. The London 
Company of 1607 named the same territory Vir¬ 
ginia. Although it meant suffering and death, 
Clark and his men held the territory that we call 
Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois. The West 
had been pushed beyond the Appalachian Moun¬ 
tains to the Mississippi River. It was owned by 
Virginia, but she cheerfully gave the Northwest 
territory to the Union, to make the people hap¬ 
pier and the nation stronger. 

When Jefferson became President, he knew 
that we could not grow as a nation if France 
continued to hold Louisiana. For fifteen million 
dollars he bought that large tract of land reach¬ 
ing from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. 


PUSHING BACK THE WEST 171 

By this purchase the western frontier had been 
pushed to the Rocky Mountains. 

The Spaniards held nearly all the land on the 
western coast. Jefferson decided that if there 
was any more unclaimed land on this continent 
it would be wise to get it for the United States. 
He talked it over with two of his neighbors, 
Clark and Meriwether Lewis. These two young 
Virginians left their comfortable homes near 
Charlottesville to carry out Jefferson’s plan to 
get this unclaimed country for the United 
States. No one heard from the explorers for 
over two years. They followed the Missouri 
River to its very source. Then they fought their 
way over high mountains and through deep 
canyons and planted the Stars and Stripes on 
the Pacific Coast. The West had been pushed 
beyond the Rockies and out to the Pacific Ocean. 

Texas was an independent country, but it was 
not very strong because it had lived under four 
different flags before it became a state of the 
Union. Spain wanted Texas and sooner or later 
meant to have her. If Sam Houston had not gone 
there, she might have succeeded. 

Sam Houston told the people about the new 
nation, the United States: a country where all 
men were equal, where any man born in it could 
be President or hold any office, where there were 


172 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


no kings to make laws, a country where every 
man could do just what he pleased if it did not 
interfere with the rights of any one else. The 
Texans asked to be taken into the Union. Their 
Spanish neighbors in Mexico did not like this 
idea. It was not long before there was war be¬ 
tween Mexico and the United States. Two Vir¬ 
ginians, Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, 
led the United States troops. The Spaniards 
soon learned that the young nation could and 
would whip them, and they made a treaty 
that settled the Texas question and gave Cali¬ 
fornia, New Mexico, and Arizona to the United 
States. 

Step by step the land had been gained. The 
frontier of the United States had been pushed 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. At each 
step a brave and loyal Virginian had dared, suf¬ 
fered, sacrificed to make the nation richer and 
stronger and to give to many more people the 
protection of a democratic government. 

Pioneering was hard, and it was a long time 
before many families left their warm firesides 
and sunny plantations to make their homes in 
this wild, little-known country beyond the moun¬ 
tains. News came that gold had been found in 
California (1848). There was a rush west. 


PUSHING BACK THE WEST 173 

Everybody who had the daring spirit went to 
find gold and remained to make his home 
there where rich mines of gold, silver, copper, 
and oil were found. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


PIONEER LIFE 

The land was worth nothing unless people 
were willing to live on it. Some few had to go 
ahead to get it ready for the others. The lives of 
these pioneers were hard. They had to suffer 
much as the first settlers of Jamestown had suf- 



The Overland Route 


fered, felling trees, planting crops, driving off 
the Indians. It was the work, strength, courage, 
and skill of these pioneer men and women that 
helped to make the United States what it is 
to-day. 

The journey to the West was made in covered 
wagons pulled by strong draft horses. Some¬ 
times it took as many as seven horses to pull a 

174 






PIONEER LIFE 175 

wagon, and the driver rode the left-hand horse 
of the first pair. The body of the wagon was 
curved; it looked like a boat. A white cotton 
cover was held in place by bows over the wagon. 
They made the cover curve as the wagon body 
did, by having the bows higher in the front and 
back. The wheels were broad, to keep the heavy 
load from going too deeply into the ground. The 
wagon was their home, their storehouse, their 
means of travel for days and months. 

It was not often that one family set out alone. 
Usually a string of wagons, a dozen or more, 
filled with friends, would form a little company 
and go west together. In this way they could 
help each other during sickness, and there was 
strength against the unknown dangers. Mov¬ 
ing on from place to place, across mountains, 
through rivers and desert—it was a hard life for 
father, mother, and child. 

Pioneer houses were of three kinds: log, sod, 
and adobe. Usually they were of log, put roughly 
together as a place of shelter. The logs were cut 
to fit at the ends, and the walls were made by 
piling logs one upon another. The roof was made 
of boards held in place by heavy poles placed 
across them. The windows and doors were 
sawed out of logs. At first the windows had no 
glass in them. Nails were not used, and the 


176 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

hinges and latches were made of wood. The 
latches were on the inside of the door. A little 
string was tied to the latch and pulled through 
a hole in the door. The door was opened by pull¬ 
ing the string to raise the latch. To lock the door 
the string was pulled in. Did you ever hear a 



A Pioneer Settlement 


friend say, “The latch string is always on the 
outside V 9 This welcome came from the latches of 
the early pioneers. 

The chimney was built on the outside of the 
cabin. It was not so wide at the top as at the 
bottom, and was made of wood chinked with 
mud. 

Some families took a few pieces of furniture 
with them, but usually the furniture of the pio- 


PIONEER LIFE 177 

neer home was as crudely put together as the 
cabin had been. 

The pioneer women had no easy life. Far away 
from every one, they had to cook and prepare 
the food, sew, take care of the children and their 
husbands, and show bravery and cheerfulness 
in the face of the many dangers that were ever 
present. 

The children of these pioneers had a happy 
childhood, although they had many tasks to do 
to help with the day’s work. Boys and girls 
learned to shoot as soon as they could handle a 
gun. 

The pioneers wore clothes made of the tough¬ 
est kind of deerskin. It took three deerskins to 
make shirt, leggins, and shoes. The boys and 
girls tanned the skins, made brooms, built 
fences, and did many other things to help. 

It was not all work and trouble; the boys and 
girls had playtime when their fathers and moth¬ 
ers did, and everybody for miles around played 
together. While they were having a rest and a 
change, they could not be idle; so the women 
of the community would have a “quilting bee.” 
They would meet to enjoy the afternoon together 
and make a quilt. Each one would bring a square 
that she had made. These were all put together 
in a frame, and almost in less time than it takes 


178 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


to tell about it, the quilt was finished. It would 
have taken hours for one person to make it alone. 
At sundown their husbands came, and all sat 
down to a big supper. The day’s fun ended with 
a barn dance that lasted late into the night. 
Fathers and mothers would gather up their 
sleeping children and begin the long ride home. 

There was no such thing as paying any one to 
work for you. If land had to be cleared, a man’s 
friends helped him. The land was divided with 
an equal number of men on each side, and a 
prize was offered to the side which finished first. 
Instead of having the usual lunch, their wives 
came with baskets of food. The picnic and the 
laughing and joking were good for them, and 
besides, the land had been cleared of trees and 
bushes. 

The people who went across the mountains 
into a new land had hard times. But those very 
hard times did much to make brave, fearless men 
and women. Boys and girls proved themselves 
to be as brave as their fathers and mothers were. 
There were not many settlers in the thick for¬ 
ests. The log cabins were miles apart, and here 
and there they had log forts to protect them¬ 
selves from the Indians. 

When the Revolutionary War started, one of 
the strongest of these forts was at Wheeling. It 


PIONEER LIFE 


179 


was called Fort Henry in honor of the great 
Patrick Henry. Besides the fort, there was a vil¬ 
lage of twenty-five or more families. 

The English governor knew that if he could 
take Fort Henry, all northwest Virginia would 
fall into his hands. He sent five hundred or more 
red men, led by a white man who had lived much 
of his life with the Indians, to take the fort. 
They were sure it would be very easy. The Amer¬ 
icans did not have many war supplies, and in 
northwest Virginia they had very little protec¬ 
tion. The enemy tried to steal up to the fort and 
to take the Americans by surprise, but the pio¬ 
neers were keeping a sharp lookout and spied 
the Indians hidden in the tall grass not far from 
the village. 

This gave them time to get all the men, women, 
and children and most of their supplies into the 
fort. Counting the old men and boys, there were 
forty-two fighting men. They had little gunpow¬ 
der ; in the hurry most of it had been left in the 
village. 

The Indians were disappointed to find the vil¬ 
lage deserted and everybody in the fort. There 
was sharp fighting. After a time they stopped 
firing, hoping to make the white men think that 
they had gone away. They hid in the brushwood 


180 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


and fired upon the men every time a party came 
out of the fort to see what had happened. 

Their powder was nearly gone, and the pio¬ 
neers knew that they could not hold out unless 
they got more. They had to have the keg of gun¬ 
powder that was left behind. They knew also 
that if any one of the men left the fort, he would 
be shot down. All the men were willing to go, 
but who could be spared ? 

Elizabeth Zane volunteered to go for the pow¬ 
der. At first the men would not allow a girl to 
take such a risk. But she soon made them see 
that it was right that she should go. Her plea 
was that the fort needed every fighting man and 
that no one would miss her protection if she did 
not return safely. 

The house was about sixty yards from the 
fort, and much more quickly than it can be told 
she was there and hack again. There were In¬ 
dians in the village, but, strange to say, they did 
not fire upon her. Quick as a flash she ran into 
the cabin, got the little keg of powder, held it 
close to her, and, with hair and skirts flying be¬ 
hind her, dashed back to the fort. When she was 
ten feet from the fort, the Indians let out a wild 
yell, and bullets went in every direction. Eliza¬ 
beth Zane was safely in the fort, and with her 


PIONEER LIFE 


181 


was the keg of gunpowder. Through the bravery 
of this young girl, twelve men and their wives 
and children were saved. After this the attack 
on Fort Henry stopped. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 
1752-1818 

George Rogers Clark lived at Pan Tops, 
in Piedmont, Virginia, just outside what is 
now Charlottesville. He and Jefferson were 
close neighbors and good 
friends. 

He came of a very good 
family and, like many 
young Virginians, learned 
to be a surveyor. The same 
daring spirit that had 
brought their ancestors 
across the seas a century 
before sent them into the 
forests to survey. George 
George Rogers Clark Rogers Clark went to live 
in the backwoods, where 
he surveyed, hunted, and learned how to protect 
himself from the Indians. 

When trouble came with England, he went to 
182 




GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 183 

Patrick Henry, the governor of Virginia. He 
told him of a plan to take the country for the 
Virginia colonies. This plan would require sol¬ 
diers and guns. Patrick Henry thought that it 
was a splendid plan to hold the country during 
the war with the mother country, and better still 
to hold it when the war was over. 

George Rogers Clark was a rich man; so he 
spent his own fortune to clothe, feed, and arm 
his troop. It was not easy to get men to pass days 
and nights, weeks and months in the wilderness 
fighting both man and beast. At last, Clark and 
a hundred and fifty backwoods riflemen started 
down the Ohio River in flatboats. As they went 
down the river, he gathered a few more men of 
spirit to join the group. They had the courage of 
those who had fought foot by foot for all that 
they had gained. They were big, strong men, 
used to every adventure. They wore hunting 
shirts and leggins, and carried rifles like those 
that were used by backwoodsmen. 

After Clark and his men went as far as they 
could in their flatboats, they landed. They 
marched northward and learned that they were 
not far from Kaskaskia, the headquarters of the 
British. Clark wanted to take the place by sur¬ 
prise, so that there would be no bloodshed. Dur¬ 
ing the night they marched as softly and as 


184 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

quietly as they could. During the day they hid in 
the bushes. On the evening of July 4th they came 
within sight of the little village and stayed hid¬ 
den until after dark. 

The English officer of the fort was giving a 
party for the Creoles, and everybody at Kas- 
kaskia had been invited. The merrymaking was 
at its height, and no one gave a thought to any¬ 
thing except having a good time. Suddenly from 
out of the black night Clark and his men slipped 
into the village. The watchmen were so surprised 
that they did not make a sound when their rifles 
were taken from them. Then Clark and his men 
surrounded the fort. Clark walked into the ball¬ 
room and watched the dancers. They were so 
filled with merriment that they did not see the 
tall, silent stranger leaning against the wall. 
Suddenly there was a terrible war whoop given 
by an Indian who had spied the stranger. The 
dancing stopped. Where there had been laugh¬ 
ter, there was great fear and much noise. Clark, 
in his pleasant manner, told the merrymakers 
that he was their friend, and they had nothing 
to fear, and that the party could continue under 
the Virginia flag. 

Clark called the chief men together and told 
them that if they were loyal and true, they might 
be citizens of Virginia. They were French in 


GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 


185 


blood and sympathy; so it was not hard to win 
them from the English. They were so pleased 
with Clark that they persuaded their kinsmen in 
the village nearby to raise the American flag. 
Clark’s aim had been to take the land without 
killing anybody, and he had succeeded better 
than he had ever hoped. 

Soon the news was brought to the British gov¬ 
ernor, and he made up his mind to get the land 
back. But just as sure as he was that he must 
regain the fort, just so sure were Clark and his 
men that he never should do So. 

The English governor came down from Can¬ 
ada with a large army of British and Indians. 
For a time it looked as if Clark and his men 
would be pushed back into Virginia. The 
weather was getting cold, and life in the open 
was very hard. Governor Hamilton thought it 
best to wait until spring for the next attack on 
the American soldiers. He sent some of his 
troops home and told the Indians to go back to 
their settlements. He never thought that those 
American backwoodsmen would try to live where 
he would not. 

Clark knew that if he hoped to win more land, 
he must act when the enemy thought he could 
not. He called his men about him and told them 


186 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


of his plan. They pledged their loyalty to him 
and to the cause. 

On the prairies the Americans had a plenty to 
eat. Game was plentiful, and they roasted buf¬ 
falo, elk, and deer over the large tires. These 
feastings stopped when they left the prairies. 
The waters of the Wabash had drowned the 
land. All day long the men waded in the icy 
water and often could not find a dry place in 
which to rest at night. These brave and daring 
men would have lost courage but for the cheer¬ 
fulness of Clark. He encouraged them to go on 
in spite of the scarcity of food, the terrible 
weather, and the flooded lands. After months of 
suffering they came in sight of the town of Vin¬ 
cennes! Again it was Clark’s hope to spare as 
many lives as he could, nor did he want to 
frighten the people any more than was neces¬ 
sary. 

They took a Creole prisoner and learned from 
him many things about the town and the people. 
Clark made the Creole his secret messenger. He 
was sent into the town to tell all the Indians and 
the Creoles not to be afraid when they saw the 
Americans, who meant to do them no harm. The 
Indians left the village and hid in the woods 
near by. The Creoles went to their homes, where 
they stayed behind barred doors and windows. 


GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 187 

At midnight Clark and his men came into the 
town. They took the fort before the English 
knew that they were there. Clark took the Brit¬ 
ish officer prisoner. This officer made the trip 
back to Williamsburg with the Virginia troops 
and was placed in the same jail that had held 
old Blackbeard. 

When the treaty was made with England in 
1783, this large tract of land, known as the 
Northwest Territory, became a part of the 
United States. General George Rogers Clark 
was a noble, brave, courageous Virginian, who 
gave his private fortune and stood the dangers 
and sufferings of the wilderness to add the states 
of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wis¬ 
consin to the Union. 


CHAPTER XXV 
MERIWETHER LEWIS 
1774-1809 

WILLIAM CLARK 
1770-1838 

It was seventy-five years after the settlement 
at Jamestown that the French sent La Salle to 
explore the Mississippi River. He traced it from 
its source to the Gulf of Mexico. On a little 
island, not far from the mouth of the great 
stream, he planted the French flag and named 
the country from the Alleghany Mountains to 
the Rockies, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf 
of Mexico, Louisiana, in honor of King Louis 
XIV of France. 

The French set up a few trading posts, to 
which the Indians would bring furs to exchange 
for the white man’s trinkets. They told strange 
tales of the country: of a great river that flowed 
westward, of a lake that was briny with salt, of 
people who covered their heads and bodies with 
188 


LEWIS AND CLARK 


189 


iron and rode horseback. The West remained 
unknown; wild Indians lived there. Sometimes 
peddling traders and trappers would join them. 

When Jefferson bought the Louisiana Terri¬ 
tory for the United States, many Americans 
thought that he was doing wrong. They feared 
that he was making the government too strong. 
We know that he looked far into the future. 
From this purchase the states of Louisiana, 
Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North 
and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana 
and Wyoming, and parts of Idaho, Colorado, 
Oklahoma, and Indian Territory have been 
made. 

Jefferson knew that this country had to be 
explored, if it was to be of greater value to the 
United States than it had been to France. Two 
young Virginians, Captain Meriwether Lewis 
and Captain William Clark, were sent west to 
explore the rivers, mountains, and plains. 

Meriwether Lewis was a baby when the Revo¬ 
lutionary War began. From the time he could 
understand what was said, he had heard of cour¬ 
age and bravery and loyalty. His family had 
been one of the most famous in Virginia. Lewis 
himself was a brave youngster. When he was 
eight years old, he would take his gun and dogs 
and go, in the middle of the night, to hunt opos- 


190 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


sums and raccoons in the foothills of the Blue 
Ridge. 

Lewis was sent to Charlottesville to a Latin 
School, but Latin was not his best subject. Even 
then he loved to study about flowers, plants, and 
animals, and spent more of his time in the woods 
than over his books. 

His father died when he was eighteen. He left 
school to help run his mother’s farm. It was 
much too quiet a life for this youngster. So he 
left the farm to his brother’s management and 
entered the state militia. In short order he was 
made captain of his company and paymaster of 
the regiment. 

President Jefferson made Lewis his private 
secretary, but he soon had other work waiting 
for him. He named Lewis head of the exploring 
party he planned to send into the Louisiana Ter¬ 
ritory. 

Meriwether was #sked to lead because Jeffer¬ 
son had known him so long and so well. As a 
youngster he had shown courage, strength, and 
will power. As a man he had become a leader of 
men who were willing to follow him because he 
was honest, liberal, fair, and truthful. He had 
been a great hunter and knew the Indians, the 
wild animals, the woods. Lewis seemed to have 


LEWIS AND CLARK 191 

every quality that would make an able leader for 
such a hard trip. 

J efferson always looked far ahead. He 
thought that if an accident should happen 
to Lewis, all would be lost. To * avoid this, he 
asked Captain William Clark to be Lewis’s 
companion and helper. This choice was very 
good, since Lewis and Clark had grown up 
together near Charlottesville and were close 
friends. 

William was the younger brother of General 
George Rogers Clark, who drove the British 
from the Northwest. He was too young to have 
had a part in the Revolutionary War, but had 
joined the army as soon as he was old enough. 
By the time he was twenty-one years old he had 
been made a lieutenant. Clark did not have much 
schooling, as we think of it to-day. His father 
had moved into the heart of the Kentucky wil¬ 
derness. He learned his lessons from contact 
with life. We know him to have been honest, 
brave, and fearless. 

Lewis and Clark brought their men together 
at St. Louis on the Mississippi River. During 
the winter the men were drilled, and everything 
was made ready for the start in spring. Forty- 
five men—woodsmen, hunters, guides, servants, 
and soldiers—set sail on the Missouri River in 


192 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

May, 1804. At first they saw other white peo¬ 
ple. There were Frenchmen at trading posts 
who had not heard that the land no longer be¬ 
longed to France. Then they met new tribes of 
Indians. Some of them were friendly; others 
were not, but they did nothing to harm or in¬ 
jure the white men. When the exploring party 
crossed the Platte River, they found many wild 
and cruel Indians who did what they could to 
prevent their progress. Lewis and Clark knew 
that they had to make friendly terms with the 
Indians before they could go further. To bring 
this about, they called a council of the braves. 
With the invitation they sent a present of pork, 
flour, and meal. The Indians must have liked the 
gift; they brought watermelons to the whites. 
At this council the Indians were told about the 
government of the United States. They liked to 
hear that the Great White Father, our Presi¬ 
dent, would help them. A treaty of peace was 
made, and the chiefs were given paint, powder, 
and beads. A medal and flag were given to the 
great chief. The meeting was closed with a shot 
from an air gun which made so much noise that 
it nearly frightened them to death. 

And so these brave men fought their way 
west. It was hard to find water that was good 
to drink. Mosquitoes were so big that the men 


LEWIS AND CLARK 193 

hated them as much as they did the snakes and 
wild animals. They saw herds of buffaloes, ante¬ 
lopes, and prairie dogs. 

Everything depended on what the Indians 
would do. Some were wilder than the others. 
Little things often made them laugh or turn 
from some cruel act. 

Captain Clark had his colored servant with 
him. The Indians never tired of looking at him. 
The palefaces were ugly enough, but this funny 
black man! He seemed to get fun out of it, too. 
He told the Indians that the palefaces had 
caught him when he was a wild animal. He 
made all sorts of funny faces and noises to 
scare them. They felt sorry for him because the 
palefaces would not turn him back into the wild 
animal he had been. 

A year had passed before they had sight of 
the Rocky Mountains. They climbed to the top 
peak and saw two rivers before them. One they 
had traveled on; the other they had never seen 
before. The party separated. Lewis went one 
way; Clark, another. It was all wild country. A 
bear or a panther was always ready to spring 
from a hiding place, and only quick action saved 
the men. For miles there was not a tree or a bush 
to be seen. 

Sometimes Indians would lead them through 


194 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

the trails. Then they made their own paths, 
Clark going by land and Lewis by water. At last 
they came to three branches of the Missouri 
River. The Missouri was safely passed, and the 
next move was to cross the mountains. 

Lewis found himself among new Indian tribes 
that were fierce and warlike. When the two 



Lewis and Clark y s Route 


parties met, the men were so happy at being 
together again that they hugged one another. 

They made a sort of treaty with some of the 
Indians who helped them. The Indians told 
them about the land, how long they would have 
to ride before they would come to a large desert, 
for how many days they must then travel with¬ 
out grass or water, and of the many unfriendly 








LEWIS AND CLARK 195 

Indian tribes they would meet. Lewis bought 
horses from these friendly Indians in exchange 
for a coat, a pair of leggins, and a good knife. 
On this next lap of the journey Clark took fresh 
and dried salmon, which did not last long. After 
this they had nothing. There was neither game 
nor wild fruit to eat. They came upon a tribe of 
Indians who had many dogs, which they bought 
for food. The Indians thought this so strange 
that they called the white men “dog-eaters.” 

When they reached the Columbia River, they 
learned how the Indians caught the fish and 
fixed it to last for months. They went on down 
the Columbia until the falls of the river were 
passed, when they caught sight of Mt. Hood. 
The fog was so thick that they could not see 
where they were. In November the fog lifted. 
The explorers had reached the Pacific Ocean. 
They built a camp at the mouth of the Columbia 
River, planted the Stars and Stripes on the 
Pacific Coast, and claimed the Oregon Territory 
for the United States. They had crossed the 
country from ocean to ocean, and the dangerous 
return trip had to be made. They had maps, 
papers, journals, and charts to give President 
J efferson. 

Lewis and Clark took separate parties on the 
return trip, as they had done on the way out. 


196 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

They kept in touch with each other as often as 
they could. They met new tribes of Indians more 
fierce than any they had met before. They 
crossed rivers and went through great passes 
into the Yellowstone Park. By September their 
boat sailed into the Mississippi. The trip was 
over, and the whole nation was delighted at its 
successful ending. Lewis was made governor of 
the Louisiana Territory, and Clark was made a 
general of militia and agent of Indian affairs. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 
1773-1841 

In the early days land was cheap in Virginia. 
The chief of Mattapony Indians sold his village 
and five thousand acres of land for fifty match- 



Brandon 


coats. The Harrisons had bought the land from 
Berkeley across the county to the James. The 
estate was so large that Benjamin Harrison, the 
third of the family, divided it into two parts. 




198 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

Brandon lie gave to one son, and farther up the 
Janies another son built Upper Brandon. 

William Henry Harrison was born at Berke¬ 
ley about the time that the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence was written. His father was one of the 
signers. From childhood he heard the great men 
of the colony talk about the plans for making 
the United States a greater nation. There were 
French and Spanish claims and untold numbers 
of Indian tribes here. 

William Henry Harrison joined the corps of 
the army to push back the Indians. He showed 
real ability. Like the other Virginians, he knew 
nature and he knew the traits of the red man. 
When the Indian Territory was formed (1800), 
he was made governor. The Territory was made 
up of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
and parts of Minnesota and Ohio. He labored to 
gain the friendship of the Indians, and acted 
with courage and skill. 

Tecumseh, a big Shawnee chief, had banded 
together all the Indians of the Northwest to kill 
any white settlers who dared to cross the moun¬ 
tains. 

Tecumseh, Shawnee chieftain, and his brother 
Elskwatawa, “The Prophet,’’ planned a terrible 
massacre on Tippecanoe River. Governor Harri¬ 
son went against the Indians and was so success- 


WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 199 

ful that Tecumseh left the United States and 
went to Canada. From that time Tippecanoe and 
Harrison were linked together, a*nd the people 
fondly named him Old Tippecanoe. 

The very next year saw the beginning of the 
war to make the seas safe. President Madison 
gave Harrison chief command of the Northwest. 
He forced the enemy back and ran them into 
Canada. He later served the Union in many 
other ways. He was a member of Congress, Am¬ 
bassador to Colombia, and for a long time was 
clerk of the county court of Ohio. While he was 
there, he was married. 

When William Henry Harrison, soldier and 
statesman, was sixty-seven years old, he was 
elected ninth President of the United States. It 
was the first time in a presidential contest that 
there were large meetings and big parades with 
flags and banners flying. Everywhere there were 
posters telling people to vote for “ Tippecanoe 
and Tyler, too.” This name had stuck to him 
after his great victory on the Wabash. John 
Tyler, of Greenway on the James River, was 
Vice President. For the first time, a President 
and a Vice President of the United States came 
from the same county. A month after William 
Henry Harrison took the oath of office, he died. 


200 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

John Tyler finished the term. He was the sixth 
Virginian to become President. 

Harrison’s greatness was not so much in being 
able to be elected to the high office of the Presi¬ 
dency, but in his courage, strength, and skill in 
handling the Indians of the great Northwest. 
The country was not only owned by the United 
States, but.became a place where Americans 
could live in safety and happiness. 

Benjamin Harrison, the twenty-third Presi¬ 
dent of the United States, was the grandson of 
William Henry Harrison, the ninth President 
of the United States. He was born and bred in 
Ohio, the land which his grandfather made safe 
for the white man. 


CHAPTER XXVII 


ZACHARY TAYLOR 
1784-1850 

Zachary Taylor was born in Orange County, 
near Gordonsville, Virginia, just when the peace 
treaty between England and the new nation was 
signed. His father’s home was built within sight 
of the old Indian trail that Spottswood and his 
knights made to get the first view of the Shenan¬ 
doah Valley. On the other side of this mountain 
lived Sam Houston. They were almost the same 
age, these two boys who did so much to push 
back the frontiers. 

Taylor’s home is a simple place built in true 
colonial style. The driveway from the road to 
the house is between two rows of tall boxwood 
trees. The house is built in a cluster of oak trees. 

When Zachary was a little boy, his father 
moved to Kentucky, then a part of Virginia. 
This took him farther from school, and he had 
to learn as best he could. He loved the moun¬ 
tains and the woods and knew every trail for 
201 


202 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


miles around. Zachary was a child of nature, 
and as he grew to manhood he was almost as 
rough and rugged as the mountains in which he 
lived. 

He wanted to he a soldier. His great desire 
was to help to care for the nation that his father 
had helped to make. He joined the army and 
was made a lieutenant. He soon won another 
title, “Rough and Ready” Taylor. This was 
given to him by his fellow officers because he 
was always ready and willing to do the hardest, 
roughest work. For many years, in fact during 
almost all the forty years he was in the army, 
Taylor warred against the Indians. 

For forty years he was an officer in the United 
States Army. It was in this service that he did 
so much to push the frontier farther to the west. 

The United States wanted to buy California. 
This beautiful land had been visited by explor¬ 
ers from Spain, Russia, England, and the 
United States. Excepting the Indians, there 
were very few settlers there. 

President Polk tried to buy California from 
Spain as Jefferson had bought Louisiana from 
France, but the Mexicans were furious and 
would not listen. In fact, they would not even 
admit that Texas was a part of the Union, and 
it became necessary to take care of the people 


ZACHARY TAYLOR 203 

of Texas, who wanted to become a part of the 
United States. 

The President ordered General Taylor to pro¬ 
tect Texas. The Rio Grande River was the di¬ 
viding line between Texas and Mexico. Taylor 
and his men camped along the banks. It was not 
long before the Mexicans began to fire on them. 
In order to defend themselves, the soldiers had 
to fire back. TYar began, and General Taylor 
went into Mexico. His men were few as com¬ 
pared to the Mexicans. At one place there were 
five thousand Americans against twenty thou¬ 
sand Mexicans. General Santa A nn a was forced 
back, and General Taylor’s men were victorious. 
General Taylor was joined by General Scott, 
another great Virginian, from Petersburg. It 
seemed as though these forces could not be 
beaten. It was not long before the Mexican army 
was helpless and had to ask for peace. 

The United States had offered to buy Cali¬ 
fornia before the war. In the peace treaty Mex¬ 
ico had to give up all claim to Texas. The United 
States paid her fifteen million dollars for Cali¬ 
fornia. The states of California, Nevada, and 
Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, and New 
Mexico came from this purchase. 

The United States was happy over the results, 


204 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

and especially over the leadership of Zachary 
Taylor. The people showed their appreciation 
of the service he gave to the nation by electing 
him President of the United States. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


SAMUEL HOUSTON 
1793-1863 

Samuel Houston was born in the mountains of 
Virginia, near Staunton and not far from Lex¬ 
ington, while George Washington was serving 
his first term as President 
of the United States. 

All Sam Houston’s peo¬ 
ple had been soldiers. When 
the Revolution was over, 
his father had served so 
well that he was made Ma¬ 
jor and Inspector General 
of the frontier troops. It 
was just as natural for 
young Samuel to be brave 
and daring as it is for day 
to follow night. 

His father died while he was on a trip looking 
after the frontier. Mrs. Houston had six sons 
and three daughters to bring up. Sam was only 
thirteen years old at this time. He was a child in 

205 



Sam Houston 


206 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

years, but he saw the struggle that was before 
his mother. He made up his mind to do his part. 

Mrs. Houston thought that she could take care 
of her large family better on the other side of 
the Alleghany Mountains; so they staked a farm 
not many miles from the Tennessee River. No 
family lived as far away from their friends as 
did this pioneering widow and her children. 
The Cherokee Indians were their nearest neigh¬ 
bors, and they had to keep a close watch on them. 

All thought of schooling was over for Sam 
when he left Virginia. He had learned how to 
read, to write, and to do a little arithmetic. He 
loved his books, and long before the others were 
out of bed in the morning, he was up reading. 
At night he read as long as the candle end lasted. 
The books he liked best were those that told 
about the bravery, strength, and courage of men 
who lived years ago. He wanted to know all 
about the things that the great General Julius 
Caesar had done. Caesar had kept a sort of diary 
of his wars. When Houston found this out, he 
made up his mind to study Latin. All by himself, 
without a teacher, he learned to read Latin. It 
was not long before he could read Caesar’s story 
of the Gallic Wars. It was his favorite book. 

Houston made extra money by staying at a 
trading post not far from his home. He grew 


SAMUEL HOUSTON 


207 


very fond of the Indians and they of him. As 
time passed, others took his place at home, and 
he roamed the woods with the Indians. A time 
came when he did not go home at all. His fa mil y 
did not know where he was. They called him the 
“Roamer.” His days were passed in hunting, 
fishing, and trapping. As time passed, the Indi¬ 
ans made him one of them. He learned their 
language, dressed as they did, and lived with 
them. He would return to the white man’s world 
to get powder, shot, and trinkets for trading. 
His family thought of him as the “black sheep,” 
when they heard he was living with the Chero- 
kees. He was now eighteen years old. He learned 
about nature from nature, about the Indians 
from living with them, and much of everything 
from books. For a boy of his age, it would have 
been hard to find his match. 

Houston left his Indian friends because he 
owed money for the things that he had bought 
at the trading post. To get this money, he opened 
a school. In the last five years other families had 
moved into this district, and they were glad to 
have such a schoolmaster. Each pupil’s school¬ 
ing was to cost eight dollars a year. This money 
had to be paid in corn, cotton goods, and cash. 

After Sam Houston began teaching school, he 
soon found out how little he really knew. Almost 


208 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


from the beginning he saved his money so that he 
could go to school himself. As soon as he saved 
enough, he went to Maryville Academy. He had 
been there only a short time when the call to war 
sounded. This was the war of 1812. Sam Hous¬ 
ton left his books and took up his gun. 

The Indians had turned against the colonists 
as soon as they knew that the colonists were 
fighting another war with England. Houston led 
a charge that drove back the Indians. He was a 
fearless leader. He was badly wounded several 
times, but nothing stopped him. 

Years before, Houston’s father had been the 
inspector of frontier tribes. He was given this 
position on account of his bravery. Now his son, 
Sam, was given such a post for just such a 
reason. He was a very wise choice for chief offi¬ 
cer of this frontier country. He knew the Indian 
language and their ways of living better than 
any one else. Sam Houston made the red man 
feel the white man was his friend. 

As soon as this piece of work was finished, 
Houston became restless. He wanted to return to 
civilization. He loved the mountains, forests, 
and rivers, but nothing took the place of his 
books. This time he wanted to go back to study 
law. He gave up his office on the frontier and 


SAMUEL HOUSTON 209 

took up the study of law. Within six months he 
had passed the examination. 

But lawyers must have money for books, to 
pay for office rent, and to buy clothes to wear. 
Houston had always been poor, and all the 
money that he could get he had used for books. 
When he started his work, he had nothing but 
his good name. This must have been very good, 
for he got hooks and clothes on credit. He rented 
an office for twelve dollars a year, which was to 
be paid in due time. The postmaster trusted him 
with postage for his letters. 

Of course Houston succeeded. People came to 
consult him about their business because they 
could put their trust in him. He did their work 
well and won many friends. He stepped from 
one high office to another that was higher in the 
service of Tennessee, doing well in each place. 

While Houston was governor for the second 
time, he yielded to his longing to go back to the 
woods. For many years he lived with the Indi¬ 
ans, sometimes as their leader, again as the tri¬ 
bal vagabond. From time to time he went to 
Washington to plead for them. 

Texas was a part of Mexico, and Mexico be¬ 
longed to Spain. Many pioneers had gone there 
to live. They were trying to get the same rights 
that the people had in other Mexican states. 


210 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


President Jackson sent Sam Houston down to 
Texas to get the help of the Indians in protect¬ 
ing the settlers from the United States. It was in 
Texas that Houston did some of his best work. 

The Texans were not willing to stay as they 
were. Mexico would not listen to their wishes, 
and sent them word to lay down their guns. In¬ 
stead of doing as they were told, they formed a 
government of their own. Sam Houston was 
chosen commander in chief of the army. After 
many a battle, the war was won, and Texas be¬ 
came an independent republic, with Houston as 
president. Later it came into the Union. 

Sam Houston spent his whole life in the ser¬ 
vice of his country. When he gave up public life, 
he was still a poor man. It was through the 
strength, courage, wisdom, and loyalty of this 
Virginia-born pioneer that Texas was brought 
into the Union and peace was made with the 
Cherokees. Sam Houston must be honored for 
his great part in adding to the strength of the 
nation. 


CHAPTER XXIX 


CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 
1809-1884 

Cyrus McCormick was born in Rockbridge 
County when the nation was still young. In those 
days Rockbridge was so far away that it was a 
part of the frontier. 

McCormick lived on a farm, where he learned 
as much from nature and the people about him 
as he did at the little school. Even there he was 
a very good pupil. He was always thinking about 
something to do. Long before maps could be 
bought in Virginia, Cyrus made one of the 
world. He drew the two hemispheres on paper, 
pasted them side by side on linen, and mounted 
the linen on two rollers. Everybody in that 
school was helped by Cyrus’s map. 

There was a blacksmith shop on his father’s 
farm, for making and repairing tools. Cyrus’s 
playground was in the blacksmith shop. He 
loved to watch his father make the machines 
that were used on the farm. The father played 
211 


212 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRQINIANS 

in the blacksmith shop, too. He was always try¬ 
ing to make something that would help plow and 
reap the large fields of grain. Young Cyrus 
played and worked with him when he was al¬ 
lowed to do so. He made a plow and a harvesting 
cradle, but every one was so interested in his 
father’s work that no thought was given to what 
the son was doing. 

At last the day came when his father tried out 
a reaper that he had been making to cut grain. It 
would cut the grain when it stood up straight, 
but it just passed over that which had fallen on 
the ground. Although he was disappointed, Mr. 
McCormick was not discouraged. He set to work 
again. After many hours of labor the second 
model proved to be a greater failure than the 
.first had been. 

Cyrus was now a young man of twenty-one. 
He set to work to find out what was wrong with 
the reapers his father had made. He knew that 
they were needed not only for Virginia farms, 
but for the West, where there were few men and 
much land. Whole fields of grain were being lost 
in Illinois, Ohio, and Kansas because the crops 
could not be gathered quickly enough. 

After tinkering with the old reaper for a 
while Cyrus threw his father’s models aside and 
began a new one of his own. He made up his 


CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 


213 


mind that it could be done, and “I will succeed’’ 
became his motto. The first test was made on 
their own farm. Only his family was there to see 
the try-out. The horse was hitched to the reaper, 
and Cyrus McCormick drove through the ripe, 



McCormick’s Workshop at Raphine, Virginia 


waving grain. The test was a success ; the cut¬ 
ting was smoothly and quickly done. After this 
the McCormicks invited other farmers to come 
to see the reaper work. You would think that 
they would have been delighted to get such help, 
but, strange to say, they found all kinds of fault 
with it. Although it was patented in 1834, not 
one was sold for six years. For many years 





214 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

human hands did what this one machine could 
have done. 

Making the model was just the beginning. The 
reaper had to be manufactured. McCormick 
built a furnace and began to manufacture iron. 
With his father’s and his brother’s help the 
machine was made for the harvest of 1840. It 
cost fifty dollars. Seven more were sold in the 
two years. After that orders came faster than 
they could make the machine in their own little 
workshop. Virginia farmers rode over on horse¬ 
back and took away a part at a time. To deliver 
a reaper to the West was no easy task. They had 
to carry the machine in wagons from Rock¬ 
bridge to Scottsville, then to Richmond. From 
there it was loaded on a boat which sailed down 
the James by Hampton Roads and into the 
Atlantic to New Orleans, then up the Missis¬ 
sippi and into the Ohio River to Cincinnati. 

Cyrus McCormick was not only an inventor; 
he was a great business man. He started manu¬ 
facturing plants in New York, Cincinnati, and 
Chicago. Hundreds of machines were made, and 
grain could be gathered just when it should be. 
The world called him one of the greatest men of 
the times. England and France paid him honor. 
At home it was said, “It has pushed the Amer- 


CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 215 

ican frontier westward at the rate of thirty 
miles a year.” With a reaper as a part of their 
outfit, pioneers set out to make their homes in 
the great West. 

Cyrus McCormick lived many years to see his 
fame go over the world and to become very rich. 
Much of this wealth he gave to education and 
public welfare. McCormick Theological Semi¬ 
nary is a memorial to this great Virginia in¬ 
ventor. He helped mankind by his reaper and 
the wealth he accumulated from making it. 


216 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


A Game You May Like to Play 


Write on the same line the two names that are asso¬ 
ciated together. Each correct answer counts 2. 


1. Thomas Jefferson 

2. George Rogers Clark 

3. Samuel Houston 

4. Zachary Taylor 

5. Winfield Scott 

6. Lewis and Clark 

7. William Henry Harrison 

8. Cyrus Hall McCormick 


Rockbridge 

Tippecanoe 

Texas 

Louisiana Purchase 
Oregon Territory 
Mexico 
Vincennes 
Vera Cruz 


Things You May Like to Do 

1. Draw an outline map of the United States. Mark in 
colors the land claimed by England, France, and 
Spain. 

2. Make a floor scene of a Virginia family going West in 
pioneering times. 

3. Visit the oldest places in your county. Find out the 
names of all the people who left your county to go 
farther west. Maybe there are some old people there 
who would be glad to visit your class, to tell you 
about pioneering days. 

4. Divide the class into four groups and let each one 
dramatize Virginia’s part in the four big pioneering 
movements. 


PART VI—VIRGINIA CARRYING ON 


CHAPTER XXX 

DARK DAYS FOR VIRGINIA AND THE 
NATION 

The first permanent English settlement in the 
New World was made at Jamestown in 1607 by 
men who came in search of wealth for them¬ 
selves and the mother country. The next colony 
settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620 and 
had come to the New World to seek a new home 
where they could worship God as they pleased. 

These two English colonies, one in Virginia 
and the other in Massachusetts, were unlike. 
Virginia was a part of old England, and Vir¬ 
ginians were Englishmen. Boats from England 
came up to the plantations on the James River 
to take on and put off supplies. In fact, in the 
early colonial days Virginians thought of Lon¬ 
don as their closest port. The Plymouth colony 
in Massachusetts came to be known as New Eng¬ 
land, but these colonists separated themselves 
from Old England and the colony in Virginia 

217 


218 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

because they did not like their “ easy-going ’ ’ 
ways. 

As time passed, the English colony in the 
North and the one in the South did not grow 
closer together. The only thing that they seemed 
to have in common was the English love of free¬ 
dom. It was not until this freedom was in danger 
that they stood together. In 1776, when England 
fired on Massachusetts, Virginia rushed to her 
aid. The minutemen marched from Virginia to 
Massachusetts and took with them powder, guns, 
and food from the Virginia farms. As long as 
the enemy attacked, the colonies stood together 
as one. 

With the Revolution over, each section had 
different interests. New England had grown into 
a manufacturing district, and Virginia raised 
the raw materials. New England had many 
towns; Virginia had only a few. The northern 
states had white settlers, and the South had both 
white and black. From the birth of the nation 
what pleased one section was likely to displease 
the other. 

Slavery was not new when the Dutch vessel 
brought twenty Negroes to Virginia to work in 
the tobacco and grain fields (1619). From Bibli¬ 
cal days men taken in war had become slaves. 
The patriarch counted his bondsmen as he did 


DARK DAYS FOR VIRGINIA 219 

his other belongings. In later days the Roman 
lord numbered his slaves as he did his cattle. 
They wore iron collars just as the animals did 
that they tended. 

At the time England made her settlements in 
America, the prisons of England were crowded 
with people who could not pay their debts. Eng¬ 
land promised these men their freedom if they 
would go to the colony as bond servants. After 
a number of years they should have their free¬ 
dom, but in the meantime they were slaves of 
the colonists. The Negro slave brought from 
Africa differed from the white debtor from 
England in that the black man was the planter’s 
property, but the white one was his only until 
his debt was paid by hard labor. For many years 
England sold her debtors to the colonists. No 
one, not even the debtor, thought this was wrong. 
The North as well as the South was delighted to 
have these extra workers. If the colony was to 
succeed, they had to have laborers. 

Nevertheless, many thinking people were 
coming to the belief that it was wrong for one 
man to hold another as a slave. Virginia was 
the first colony to make known her belief. From 
time to time the colonial assembly passed laws 
to stop the slave trade, but these laws were set 
aside by royal authority. They went to the king 


220 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


and begged him to assist them in passing an act 
to prevent the trade in slaves. But this business 
brought much money to the royal governor, who 
had more influence with the king than the colo¬ 
nists did. Finally King George ordered the gov¬ 
ernor, “upon pain of highest displeasure, to 
assent to no law by which the importation of 
slaves should be in any respect prohibited or 
obstructed.” 

When the colonists could not stop the Negro 
trade by calling upon the king and the governor, 
the Virginia Colonial Convention in August, 
1774, took other action. They passed this resolu¬ 
tion: “We will neither ourselves import, nor 
purchase, any slave or slaves imported by any 
other person, after the first day of November, 
next, either from Africa, the West Indies, or 
any other place.” 

There were some of the colonists who did not 
live up to their pledge, but these persons were 
held up to public scorn. 

In the first years of the Revolutionary War 
the legislature of Virginia had passed a law pro¬ 
hibiting slave trade by land or sea. This was the 
first law of the kind passed by any civilized 
state. 

Thomas Jefferson (1787) asked Congress to 
prohibit slavery in the great Northwest Terri- 


DARK DAYS FOR VIRGINIA 


221 


tory that George Rogers Clark and his men 
gained for the nation. Patrick Henry was much 
against slavery. He begged that slavery he 
stopped because the country would progress 
more quickly peopled with the thrifty Europeans 
than it would with the ignorant Negroes of 
Africa. 

Virginians felt that the owning of slaves was 
a great responsibility. In 1829 when Benjamin 
Leigh addressed the Virginia Constitutional 
Convention, he said of the Virginian: “He is 
interested in all their wants, all their distresses, 
bound to provide for them, to care for them, to 
labor for him and his labor is by no means the 
less severe of the two. The relation between mas¬ 
ter and slave imposes on the master a heavy and 
painful responsibility.’’ 

However far back into the past one may go, 
nowhere can be found the sympathy and affec¬ 
tion that was between master and slave in Vir¬ 
ginia and other southern states. For many years 
the ship captains had stopped bringing the Ne¬ 
groes to the northern states, and those that were 
there had been sold to the southern planters, 
who needed them to work in the large tobacco 
and cotton fields. As time passed, these Negroes 
helped to cause the North and South to fight 
each other. It was not brought about so much 


222 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


because all the North had come to believe that 
it was wrong to hold slaves and all the South 
wanted to own slaves. Virginia did not argue so 
much for slavery as she did that each state 
should do as she wished about it. When the Rev¬ 
olutionary War ended there were about three 
thousand free Negroes in Virginia. Thirty years 
later there were thirty thousand freed slaves in 
the state. When the war between the states 
started, there was only one in thirty-three per¬ 
sons who was a slaveholder, and many of the 
great leaders had none at all. Joseph E. John¬ 
ston, A. P. Hill, and Fitzhugh Lee never owned 
a slave. J. E. B. Stuart inherited one slave from 
his father’s estate. Matthew F. Maury owned 
only one slave, and Stonewall Jackson owned 
only two, a man and a woman. Robert E. Lee 
never owned a slave, but inherited a few from 
his mother’s estate. 

Many people in the North thought that slav¬ 
ery was wrong, and many of our finest people in 
the South thought so, too. But the people in the 
South felt that in time it would come to an end, 
whereas to stop it all at once would cause misery 
and suffering to both white and black people. 
The farmer would have no one to carry on the 
work on the farm; he would be land poor; that 
is, he would have too much land for one or two 


DARK DAYS FOR VIRGINIA 


223 


men of the family to cultivate. He would not 
even have money to pay taxes, since all his 
money was in land and slaves. The Negroes were 
far too ignorant to take care of themselves. The 
Southern planter believed 
that in a number of years 
both these evils would be 
corrected. 

Other things that brought 
about the Civil War, as the 
war between the North and 
South came to be called, 
were states’ rights, mem¬ 
bership in the House of 
Representatives in Wash¬ 
ington, and trade. 

Unfortunately some persons who did not know 
a thing about slavery wrote many bitter stories 
telling of the cruelty of the master to his 
slaves. These stories stirred the people of the 
North to a hatred of their white friends of the 
South. The South, knowing that the Negroes 
lived a very happy care-free life in their sunny 
southern homes, returned the hatred of the 
North. For years there had been trouble. Henry 
Clay, the Ashland boy, had earned the title of 
the “Peacemaker.” Time and time again he 



Confederate Battle'] 
Flag 



224 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

had made the two sections see the problem as it 
was. 

Of all the southern states, Virginia least 
wished to disturb the Union. Many of her men 
had helped to build the nation, and it tore her 
heart to see it pulled apart. When Virginia 
could no longer hold her sister states in the 
Union, she sent John Tyler and Robert E. Lee 
to President Lincoln, the grandson of a Vir¬ 
ginian, to see if they could not bring peace be¬ 
tween the North and the South. But it was too 
late. War was declared. Virginia threw in her 
lot with her southern sisters to fight for states’ 
rights. 

Robert E. Lee gave up his commission in the 
Federal army to follow his path of duty. He was 
put in command of the Southern forces. For four 
years he led his men through the bloody strug¬ 
gle. When he saw that they could not hope to 
win, he surrendered at Appomattox. The war 
between the states was over. 

All the South had suffered, but no other state 
as much as Virginia. Most of the great battles 
had been fought in Virginia. Her brave men had 
been killed, her beautiful homes destroyed, her 
soil bruised and scarred from the war, and the 
rich mineral section of western Virginia had 
become West Virginia. Virginia had given all 


DARK DAYS FOR VIRGINIA 


225 


that she held dear to the cause of states’ rights. 
She was left bleeding and sore. 

The Federal government treated the South as 
a conquered country. Virginia, the Old Domin¬ 
ion, was called Military District No. 1. The lead¬ 
ing white citizens were not allowed to vote, and 
the freed ignorant blacks had every right that 
the white man was denied. 

It was a different Virginia for those who 
lived through the war. Gone were most of their 
bravest men; gone was the happiness and com¬ 
fort of bygone centuries; gone were the rights 
and privileges that had been won by Virginia’s 
wise men of other times. But the new conditions 
were bravely faced, and for many years she 
courageously worked out her own problems. 

In spite of the many difficulties of all sorts, 
Virginians carried on. While Virginia was learn¬ 
ing to live in the new order of thin|s, she did not 
cease to give to the nation and to the world. 
Matthew Fontaine Maury charted the oceans 
and the currents. He is known as the “ Path¬ 
finder of the Seas.” It was this great geographer 
and Confederate veteran who told the world how 
to make the seas safe for travel. Moses Ezekiel, 
in Richmond, was busy making beautiful figures 
of bronze and marble. Walter Reed, born in a 


226 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

little shack in Gloucester, found the way to over¬ 
come the terrible epidemic of yellow fever in 
the tropics and made it possible for the United 
States to build the Panama Canal. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


HENRY CLAY 
1777-1850 

Henry Clay was sometimes called the “Mill 
Boy of the Slashes” and at other times the 
“Peacemaker.” He was born at a place in Han¬ 
over County called 
the Slashes. His 
father, a Baptist 
minister, died when 
Henry was only 
four years old. 

Many duties fell to 
him that boys with 
fathers did not 
have. Among his 
many chores the 
main one was to go 
to the mill when¬ 
ever his mother needed meal for the family. 
This youngster could be seen carrying corn to 
the mill to be ground into meal, and quietly 

227 



Henry Clay 


228 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 
riding home with a full sack slung across the 
saddle. 

When he was big enough to go to school, he 
went to the little one-room school not far from 
home. Henry Clay was a timid, shy little boy, but 
he learned very quickly. His teachers found that 
he never shirked any task they gave him, and 
that whatever he did, he did well. 

Having been born just at the beginning of our 
war for independence, Henry Clay’s first ideas 
of life had been those of liberty and equality. 
Everybody talked about independence, the Con¬ 
stitution, states’ rights, and the like. He had very 
few pleasures of childhood, and so it was very 
natural that Henry Clay grew to be a very seri¬ 
ous-minded youngster. 

When he was fourteen years old, he took a job 
as a clerk in a Richmond store. He did not like 
the work there, but he did it well. His stepfather, 
Captain Henry Watkins, saw that Henry was a 
bright little fellow and got a small clerkship in 
the Virginia High Court of Chancery for him. 

Henry Clay did not get any pay, but it was a 
place that called for very little work. The posi¬ 
tion gave him a chance to learn many practical 
lessons in the study of law. He loved being there 
and it was not long before learned people began 
to notice the quick, shy boy. George Wythe, one 


HENRY CLAY 


229 


of the ablest lawyers America has ever had, 
asked Clay to be his secretary. Clay was not slow 
to take advantage of this unusual opportunity. 

When Henry Clay became a practising law¬ 
yer, he was just twenty-one years old. With so 
many learned and experienced lawyers in Rich¬ 
mond and close by, Clay realized that he should 
go into a new field; so he left his native Hanover 
County to cross the Alleghany Mountains to 
make his home in Kentucky. It was not long 
before he had a big law practice, and he was 
soon holding public office. When he was twenty- 
five, he was in the Kentucky Legislature. Four 
years later he went to the United States Senate 
for two years. When he rode into Alexandria 
and found that to get to Washington he had to 
cross the Potomac in a ferryboat, he made up 
his mind that a bridge should be built to connect 
the District of Columbia with Virginia. 

When this matter came up before Congress, 
Clay did everything he could to have it passed. 
Some of the members thought that the Constitu¬ 
tion did not say that the government had a right 
to make any public improvements. It was Clay 
who made it clear that the Federal Government 
could do anything that the Constitution did not 
forbid. Since that time the Federal Government 
has helped to build highways and bridges, to 


230 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

take care of the forests, and to do many other 
useful things. 

Congress needed strong, good men, and when 
his term was over, Clay was elected again. It was 
during this election that he was called the Mill 
Boy of the Slashes. His friends rejoiced that the 
shy, poor, little boy had risen so high, and his 
political enemies thought to tease him about his 
early humble life. 

Henry Clay went from one position to an¬ 
other. He was Speaker of the House when the 
war measure of 1812 passed. When Great Brit¬ 
ain agreed to ask for peace terms, President 
Madison named Clay on the committee to bring 
about peace. 

Then Clay began to think about being Presi¬ 
dent. Three times he ran for office, and three 
times he failed. He failed not because he was 
not worthy, but because of his courage in tak¬ 
ing sides in questions of right and wrong. He 
had made too many enemies to be elected Presi¬ 
dent, and this failure was the disappointment of 
his life. Clay had stood for improvements to be 
made by the Federal Government, and he had 
made peace with England, but he had been 
blamed for bringing about the war of 1812 with 
England and for opposing the war with Mexico. 
Clay always stood with the Union and earned 


HENRY CLAY 


231 


his second nickname, the Great Peacemaker, be¬ 
cause he tried to bring peace between any two 
disagreeing states or sections. 

There was a great cry when Missouri asked 
to come into the Union as a slave state. Clay 
suggested a plan by which a part of Missouri 
should come in as a slave and the other as a free 
state. This seemed to please both sides, but at 
heart neither was satisfied. Time after time he 
held the Union together and by his untiring 
efforts helped to postpone the Civil War. This 
work earned for him the name of the Great 
Peacemaker, but it is said to have lost him the 
highest office of the land. When a friend told 
Clay that this would be the case, if he continued 
to battle for a just cause, he answered, “I would 
rather be right than be President.’’ 


CHAPTER XXXII 


ROBERT EDWARD LEE 
1807-1870 

Robert Edward Lee, the son of ‘ 4 Light Horse 
Harry” Lee, was born at Stratford, the old 
family home which he loved very dearly. He 
went to school in the lit¬ 
tle red brick schoolhouse 
in which generations of 
his people before him 
had been taught. Some¬ 
times the family would 
spend the winter in Alex¬ 
andria, in order to be 
nearer better schools. Lee 
was a splendid pupil and 
a gentleman in his man¬ 
ner to teacher and play¬ 
mates. 

Coming from a family 
of soldiers, Robert E. Lee chose to follow army 
life. When he was seventeen years old, he en¬ 
tered West Point Military Academy, where he 

232 




ROBERT EDWARD LEE 233 

ranked high in his classes and was liked by 
every one. When Lee had finished the four 
years ’ course at the Academy, he was sent to the 
Middle West to do some engineering. Hardly 
had the work been started when the war with 
Mexico began. The Federal Government ordered 
Lee to study Mexico and to plan how our army 
could victoriously enter the country. So well did 
Lee do this work that Zachary Taylor and Win¬ 
field Scott claimed that much of the success of 
their campaigns against Mexico was due to the 
engineering skill of Robert E. Lee. 

After the Mexican War was won, the govern¬ 
ment gave Lee more engineering work to do. 
Then he was made Superintendent of West 
Point Military Academy. The government gave 
him promotions for his reliable work. 

When the South decided to withdraw from the 
Union, Robert E. Lee, colonel of the Federal 
forces, saw his duty clearly. Much as it grieved 
and pained him to fight against the Union he 
loved so much, he did not stop to think of his 
gain or his loss. He had tried to bring peace and 
had failed. He resigned from the Union army to 
join the forces of his native state. 

Virginia made Lee head of Virginia troops, 
and Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed¬ 
eracy, made him his military advisor. Much of 


234 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

the success of the South in the early campaigns 
was due to the plans of Lee. At one time he was 
blamed for many of the failures. He did not 
falter, but followed his own idea of right and 
wrong. Many people became angry with him, 
and his only reply to them was, “I cannot afford 
to sacrifice the lives of five or six hundred of my 
people to silence public clamor.” 

In success, as in failure, Robert E. Lee was 
always the great general, the kind and consid¬ 
erate gentleman to his men. He took the blame 
for the failures and gave the men credit for 
their help in the victories. Once when General 
Jackson sent word to ask him what to do about 
certain troops, Commander Lee said, “Go tell 
Jackson that he knows as well what to do as I.” 
General Jackson was wounded so badly at Chan- 
cellorsville that his left arm had to be removed. 
When Lee heard of it, he said, “He has lost his 
left arm, but I have lost my right.” This was 
after his greatest success. After the failure at 
Gettysburg he said to General Pickett, “It is all 
my fault, and you must help me out of it as best 
you can.” Again he showed that he was just as 
quick to give praise for victory as to take blame 
for defeat. 

When the Confederacy saw that their cause 
was hopeless, Lee’s army continued loyal and 


ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


235 


true. Many of them fought because they loved 
General Lee, and they clung to him. To these 
men Robert E. Lee had come to mean “ cause, 
country, and all.” 

He could have fought a while longer, only to 
lose more men and to cause more heartaches. 
Of all the heroic deeds 
of this gentleman sol¬ 
dier, the greatest was in 
his hour of surrender. 

There were those who 
pleaded with him not to 
give in as long as there 
was an army in the field. 

He saw his duty clearly 
and said: “We have 
fought this fight as long 
and as well as we know 
how. We have been defeated. These men must go 
home and plant a crop, and we must proceed to 
build up our country on a new basis.” So the war 
between the states ended. 

The beautiful home of Robert E. Lee at 
Arlington was his no more. The years just after 
the war were hard ones in many ways. It was 
Lee who served Virginia and the whole South in 
trying to heal the terrible wounds the war had 
made. He became President of Washington Col- 







236 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

lege, now Washington and Lee University, at 
Lexington. During the short time he was there 
he did much for the cause of education. 

January 19th, the birthday of this great man, 
is an annual holiday in Virginia. The world is 
coming to recognize Robert E. Lee, commander 
of Confederate forces, as one of the greatest men 
of all times. 


CHAPTER XXXIII 


MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 
1806-1873 

Matthew Fontaine Maury, a Virginian whom 
kings and emperors honored, was born in Spott- 
sylvania County. His grandfather was the Rev¬ 
erend James Maury, Episcopal clergyman, who 
was the teacher of three Presidents of the United 
States. 

Matthew was only five years old when his 
father decided to go across the mountains into 
Tennessee. The trip was made as were all others 
of the early pioneer families. The way was hard, 
and there were many difficulties to overcome be¬ 
fore they reached Franklin, a little frontier vil¬ 
lage. Once there, the settlement seemed to be cut 
off from mankind. An Indian trail connected 
Franklin with the outside world, and the log- 
cabin schoolhouse was miles away. Matthew did 
not like school, but he worked harder on his 
arithmetic than on anything else. His chief joy 
was to steal into the silent forests, to watch the 

237 


238 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

clouds change from blue to gray or pile up in 
great mountains, to listen to the wind blow, and 
to watcb tbe trees, shrubs, and flowers for the 
first signs of spring and fall. When he was 
twelve years old, he was sent to Harpeth Acad¬ 
emy. He was there for seven years and helped 
earn his way by coaching pupils and doing odd 
jobs for the teachers. 

Matthew’s eldest brother, a naval officer, was 
his ideal. He was the flag captain of a fleet of 
twenty-one and was one of the best sailors in the 
service. He died at sea, but this did not lessen 
Maury’s desire to follow in his brother’s foot¬ 
steps. It was through Sam Houston, who was 
in Congress, that Matthew Fontaine Maury se¬ 
cured a midshipman’s warrant. His father 
feared the ocean that had already taken one son 
from him, and did not wish this boy to join the 
navy. In fact, he was so much against it that he 
would not help him to go to W ashington to get 
the commission. Matthew borrowed a horse and 
without a cent in his pocket started on the career 
which has meant so much to the world. 

If Maury did not study at the log-cabin school, 
he made up for it when he joined the navy. It 
was not long before the officers knew him to be 
a studious, faithful boy, ranking high in his 
classes and with his shipmates. At that time 


MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 239 

there was no such place as the Annapolis Naval 
Academy. The boys had to get their training 
aboard ship. Maury visited British and Mediter¬ 
ranean waters the first year afloat, and on the 
next trip he went around the world. When this 
was over, he passed the examinations and be¬ 
came a midshipman in the United States Navy. 

Maury was ordered to sail a sloop-of-war 
from New York to the Pacific. This was his first 
experience as a sailing master, and he wished to 
make a record. He tried to get some information 
about winds and currents, but could find nothing 
to help him. On his trip he studied the waves, 
winds, storms, currents, and temperature. He 
knew that some law regulated them, and after 
much study he was able to put into writing what 
he had found out about the lanes of the sea. This 
chart on winds and currents was used as a text¬ 
book at the Annapolis Naval Academy and has 
made travel at sea as safe as travel on land. He 
mapped out two lanes across the Atlantic ocean, 
so that ships sailing between America and Eng¬ 
land need never have a collision. 

While Maury was on a short leave, he went 
back to Tennessee for a little visit. He was going 
back to New York on a crowded stagecoach 
when he was hurt. He had given up his seat to 
an old Negro woman and was riding on top of 


240 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

the coach, which overturned. Maury's leg was 
broken. After several operations he had some 
use of the limb. As soon as he was able to be 
about, Maury wanted to go back into active 
service. Upon the recommendation of brother 
officers he was put in charge of charts and 
instruments at Washington. 

It was Maury who founded the National Ob¬ 
servatory and Signal Service and the Naval 
Academy at Annapolis. His genius made it pos¬ 
sible to lay the Atlantic cable. Kings and em¬ 
perors of Europe honored Maury for his great 
service in making charts of the lanes across the 
ocean. Each month the United States makes 
four charts. These words are printed on the 
front page: “Founded upon the research made 
and data collected by Lieutenant M. F. Maury, 
U.S.N.” 

Like many Virginians, Maury had seen that 
Civil War was coming unless something could 
be done to keep peace in the country. His fam¬ 
ily did not own slaves and did not believe in 
slavery. Maury, like Patrick Henry, did not 
think that the Negroes should live in North 
America. He went so far as to show how they 
could be taken out of the country into Brazil 
without injury to any one. When Virginia se¬ 
ceded, he, like Lee, gave up a commission in 


MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 241 

the Federal government and returned to his 
native state. He was too crippled to do active 
service on the battlefield, but gave himself in 
many ways to the Confederate cause. It was not 
long after the struggle ended that Matthew 
Maury, the Pathfinder of the Seas, sailed away 
upon his last voyage. 

Matthew Maury has sailed out upon that un¬ 
known sea, but his works live and “ shall pass 
only when the tides cease to run.” Richmond has 
distinguished herself by unveiling a monument 
to Maury made by Frederick W. Sievers. 


CHAPTER XXXIV 


MOSES EZEKIEL 
1844-1917 

Moses Ezekiel was born and passed the early 
part of his life in Richmond. He grew np among 
the best traditions of Richmond. From child¬ 
hood he was a student, a lover of books and of 
the beautiful. 

Moses Ezekiel was at Virginia Military Insti¬ 
tute when the war between the states began. He 
was in the corps of cadets that marched from 
the Institute to the battlefield. It was at New 
Market that they willingly offered their lives 
to help the Southern cause. Many of those boys 
died on that battlefield. Until the end of his life 
he loved to live again those days of trials or of 
danger, and the war-time glory of his youthful 
days. With the Southern cause lost, the Confed¬ 
eracy broken, Virginia torn and bruised, Ezekiel 
came home to find everything unlike what it had 
been. Everybody was trying to find himself in 
the new Virginia. Moses Ezekiel was no different 

242 


MOSES EZEKIEL 


243 


from those other men about him except that 
he was still young and had a great talent. Even 
in the heartbroken capital, Richmonders real¬ 
ized that this young Con¬ 
federate veteran could 
give much to the happi¬ 
ness and the beauty of the 
world if he only had the 
chance. His talents must 
not be lost; so it was ar¬ 
ranged for him to study in 
Prance, in Germany, and 
in Rome, the home of the 
world’s great sculptors. 

Moses Ezekiel did not 
fail them — again he 
brought honor and glory 
to himself and his native 
Virginia. Among the 
works of this soldier artist 
are “Religious Liberty,” 
now in Pairmount Park, 

Philadelphia, busts of 
George Washington and Robert E. Lee in the 
Museum of Cincinnati, that of George Hotch- 
kins made in Washington, of Columbus in Chi¬ 
cago, of Thomas Jefferson in Louisville, of 
Homer on the campus of the University of Vir- 






244 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 



Religious Liberty Monument 
M oses Ezekiel, Sculptor 


ginia, and the monument to the soldiers who 
died in the Civil War in the National Cemetery 
of Arlington. 

Moses Ezekiel had strong traits of character, 



MOSES EZEKIEL 


245 


which one may see in the works moulded by his 
hands. Kind, sincere, quiet, almost curt in man¬ 
ner, he had a strong personality. Gifted with a 
great talent, he worked to make it express his 
highest ideals. Ezekiel never allowed himself to 
be satisfied with anything except the best. He 
was a hard taskmaster for himself, and hours 
were spent in planning and moulding until his 
art was as nearly perfect as he could make it. 

Moses Ezekiel passed the last years of his life 
in Rome. It has been said that he was the most 
noted foreigner in the Eternal City and that 
there was no man in all Rome who was more be¬ 
loved than Moses Ezekiel. Italy was so grateful 
to him for having a studio in Rome that the Ital¬ 
ian king knighted him, making him Sir Moses 
Ezekiel. 

On the beautiful spring day when the Ameri¬ 
can troops were landing in France Moses Eze¬ 
kiel was stricken with his last illness. Across the 
seas the body of the veteran of New Market was 
brought to his beloved Virginia. He rests in the 
National Cemetery at Arlington near the great 
monument that he made as a Memorial of the 
Great Cause. 


CHAPTER XXXV 
WALTER REED 
1851-1902 

It can hardly he believed that a tiny thing 
like a mosquito can cause whole nations to fall. 
Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true. 
Nearly two thousand years ago Rome was a 
great and powerful nation. As her people set¬ 
tled more and more around the Mediterranean 
Sea, they did not have the same strength they 
had had. The mosquito had given them some 
kind of fever. Many persons have given this as 
one of the reasons why Rome was overthrown 
by the stronger people of the North. 

A case much nearer home, in our own set¬ 
tlement, was .at Jamestown in 1607. On this 
swampy peninsula, which in springtime looked 
like fairyland, there were nests of these little 
pests. It was not that the early settlers were lazy 
or that they did not want to work. They simply 
could not. The mosquitoes carried their deadly 
germs, and every bite left malaria or typhoid 

246 


WALTER REED 


247 


fever. Those men that it did not kill it weakened 
so that they could not work. It can be truthfully 
said that the mosquito was a greater enemy to 
the early settlers than the sly Indian. At least 
they were on their guard against the red man, 
but they knew nothing of the tiny insect that 
grew in numbers as the weather grew warmer. 
In fact, no one gave any thought to it for nearly 
three hundred years after the settlement at 
Jamestown. Tidewater had always had mosqui¬ 
toes and all kinds of fevers, hut no one had con¬ 
nected the two. 

Walter Reed was born at Gloucester Point on 
the York River. His simple log-cabin home was 
built on the lowlands, where he had many mos¬ 
quitoes for visitors. It was this Virginia boy 
who found that the deadly germ of yellow fever 
was given by these flying, biting pests. 

Walter Reed had studied medicine. He had 
been a physician in the United States Army and 
had served on the western plains and mountains. 
When Reed was not pushing his way through a 
blizzard to reach the bedside of a sick settler, he 
was studying. 

After the Spanish-American War it was 
found that yellow fever had killed more 
American soldiers than Spanish bullets had. 
General Leonard Wood had had Cuba scrubbed, 


248 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


but the fever stayed. Staff officers, American 
soldiers, Cubans—it had no respect for person or 
place. 

On June 25,1900, Major Walter Reed came to 
Cuba with orders to “give special attention to 
questions relating to the cause and prevention 
of yellow fever.” It was a big order, but not too 
big for this man. He had hunted germs before, 
but now he gave himself to it untiringly. Tests 
could not be made on animals like rabbits, gui¬ 
nea pigs, monkeys, and rats, but had to be made 
on human beings. Reed had a strong moral na¬ 
ture. There was no middle path for him. He saw 
the road before him and knew how to stick to 
it no matter how great the difficulty. With all 
this will power, he was gentle and kind. Could 
he give human beings yellow fever? Records 
showed that eighty-five men out of every hun¬ 
dred died of it. To do this would be murder. 
Then he knew that this would be right if he could 
prove that yellow fever was carried only by a 
certain kind of mosquito. When once he decided 
that it was right to kill some men to save many 
others, he went ahead. He made all kinds of tests 
and proved that the mosquito was the only means 
to getting yellow fever. He wrote to his wife, 
“The prayer that has been mine for twenty 
years, that I might be permitted in some way 


WALTER REED 249 

or at some time to do something to alleviate hu¬ 
man suffering, has been granted. ’ ’ 

Immediately the war against the mosquito 
started. Some of them carry the deadly yellow 
fever; others, malaria. They must be fought con¬ 
stantly. 

For many years France and England had 
tried to build a canal across the Isthmus of 
Panama that joins North to South America. A 
canal would save much time in shipping, and 
shipping would he safer. Millions of dollars had 
been spent to bring this about. Every time it was 
undertaken the men became ill, and most of them 
died. 

For a long time the climate was blamed, hut 
after Walter Reed found the cause of much of 
the sickness in the tropics and the way to get 
rid of the little pests, the United States wasted 
no time in having the canal built. 

The Medical Society of Virginia has bought 
the little cottage in Gloucester where Dr. Reed 
was born. They have dedicated it as a simple 
memorial to a great physician. 

In the District of Columbia the government 
has named a large modern hospital for veterans 
of the World War in honor of this great Vir¬ 
ginian, who did so much to make life healthier 
and happier. 


'250 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


Games You May Like to Play 


Game 1 


Connect the right name and event. Each correct answer 
will count 2. 


Gettysburg 
Mosquitoes 
The Peacemaker 
Pathfinder of the Seas 
Commander in chief of Con- 


1. Henry Clay 

2. Moses Ezekiel 

3. Eobert E. Lee 

4. Stonewall Jackson 

5. John Tyler 


federacy 

President 

Confederate Memorial 
The Eight Arm of Lee 


6. George E. Pickett 

7. Matthew F. Maury 

8. Walter Eeed 


Game II 

Complete these sentences so that each one makes a his¬ 
torical fact. 

1. Negro slaves were brought to Virginia in- 

2. Slavery of white and colored people had been the cus¬ 
tom since-days. 

3. England had sent-men to work ip the colony 

when they could not pay their debts. 

4. In 1787, when Virginia gave the Northwest Territory 

to the Union-, the Sage of Monticello, asked 

that no slaves be allowed there. 

5. Henry Clay of Ashland was called the - be¬ 

cause he tried to hold the Union together. 







THINGS TO DO 251 

6. John Tyler of Charles City County, tenth president of 

the United States, went to Washington to_to 

bring about peace. 

7. Robert Edward Lee was - of Confederate 

forces and led them until the surrender at -_ 

The highest possible score is 14; the lowest is 0. 

Things You May Like to Do 

1. Make a collection of pictures of historical places of 
the Civil War period. 

2. Dramatize Lee’s surrender. 

3. Add to your county booklet a list of places and people 
who had a part in the Civil War. 

4. Invite an old veteran to visit your class and tell about 
his experiences. 

5. Write original poems and stories, using the great 
leaders as characters. 





PART VII—VIRGINIA MAKING STRIDES 


CHAPTER XXXVI 

BEAUTY AXD HISTORICAL INTEREST 
OF VIRGINIA 

The war between the states left Virginia crip¬ 
pled and ill. The rest of the world thought that 
the Old Dominion could not regain her lost 
strength, but bloody, torn, and beggared, Vir¬ 
ginia has again found a place in the sun. Just as 
many of the early Virginians gave thought and 
time to building up a great nation, to-day there 
are those who are rebuilding a great state. It 
has been no easy task. At times it has looked as 
if it could not he done. The progress has been 
slow, hut it has been very sure. 

Where there were once only a few free schools 
for the poor, to-day there is a splendid public- 
school system; where there were only a few 
towns, there are a dozen or more beautiful cities; 
where there were only muddy, narrow Indian 
trails, there are broad highways; where there 
were no large industries, there are many. With 

252 


HISTORICAL INTEREST OF VIRGINIA 253 

all this newness, there hangs over Virginia the 
romance of those noble sons who did so much to 
make the plans for our republic. 

Virginia is beautiful—with salty ocean break¬ 
ers tumbling on sandy beaches, lofty mountain 
peaks, the James bordered with beautiful old 
homes, Piedmont, where the rivers seem to sing 
that they are happy to make their journey in 
Virginia, the Spottswood trail across the Blue 
Ridge into the Shenandoah Valley, the Luray, 
the Shenandoah, the Massanutten Caverns, the 
Natural Bridge into Rockbridge County, Shen¬ 
andoah National Park, and the summer lodge of 
the President high up on a rugged crag of the 
Blue Ridge. 

Tidewater looks out upon the Atlantic Ocean 
and Chesapeake Bay, where the rivers of Vir¬ 
ginia find an outlet. If Virginia is the cradle of 
the nation, then tidewater is the cradle of Vir¬ 
ginia. At Cape Henry, where the Jamestown set¬ 
tlers first came ashore, the first lighthouse in 
America was built. 

Across Hampton Roads, where the waters of 
Virginia and the ocean meet, is the James. No 
river in the whole world can hold more memories 
of the past than this one—J amestown, the home 
of the first English settlement, and farther up, 
the homes of those Cavaliers who toiled to found 


254 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

the colony in Virginia. Not far away is Wil¬ 
liamsburg, the old capital when Virginia was a 
royal colony and kings and queens smiled upon 
her. Through the country seven miles is York- 
town, on the York River, where the English sur¬ 
rendered to the colonists (October 19, 1781). In 
tidewater there are other historical places. It 
bears marks of suffering in the war between the 
states. It was the place of much activity during 
the World War. From these ports men and guns 
were sent to Europe to help to save liberty for 
mankind in all parts of the world, and food was 
shipped to save the starving people of Europe. 

The sea, the beaches, the tall pines, the sand 
dunes make us think of tidewater as a happy 
playground. But it is not only that, as a visit to 
these seaport cities will show. It is here that 
shipping and farming interests meet. Large 
trucks come into Norfolk and Newport News 
bringing kale, potatoes, cotton, peanuts from 
the country near by, and fish, oysters, and crabs 
are shipped hack. Trainloads of apples, grain, 
and coal are sent to tidewater to be placed on the 
large steamers that go across the ocean to other 
lands. They bring hack cargoes of coffee, tea, 
olives, dates, sugar to us. With all these ships 
coming and going, one of the largest industries 
of tidewater is shipbuilding. One big shipyard 


HISTORICAL INTEREST OF VIRGINIA 255 


is at Newport News, and another is at Ports¬ 
mouth. There are several other smaller places 
where ships are built. 

Up on the falls of the James, where the low¬ 
lands end and the hills begin, is Richmond, capi- 



State Capitol at Richmond 


tal of Virginia. It is thought that the first settle¬ 
ment made here was the main home of Powha¬ 
tan, chief of Virginia Indians. William Byrd I 
saw the beauty of the place. He founded a city 
there which he called Richmond after a city he 
loved in England. It has grown from the tiny 
Indian village, until it now covers seven high 
hills and is the capital of Virginia. Richmond 





256 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


has used the power of the falls of the James 
River to turn the wheels of her many industries. 
In this progressive city of to-day there is much 
of the charm of the old South. 

From the early days of the colony until the 
present time Richmond has been the scene of 
many historical happenings. The place is dotted 
with markers and monuments of people and 
places dear to all Americans. Among the most 
interesting is old St. John’s Church, on Church 
Hill, where was heard Patrick Henry’s “Give 
me liberty or give me death,” which sounded 
around the world. There is the State Capitol, 
planned by Thomas Jefferson. In these halls 
meets the Virginia General Assembly, the oldest 
law-making body in America. In the rotunda is 
the statue of Washington, made by the famous 
French sculptor, Houdon. Richmond was the 
home of Chief Justice Marshall, Robert E. Lee, 
Edgar Allen Poe, Moses Ezekiel, and Matthew 
Fontaine Maury. It was the capital of the Con¬ 
federacy during the war between the States. 
Jefferson Davis spent much of his time here. 
Bell Tower, on Capitol Square, warned the peo¬ 
ple when the enemy troops were coming. Holly¬ 
wood is a beautiful old cemetery. In it are buried 
many of those who helped to make our nation. 

The name Piedmont means “the foot of the 


HISTORICAL INTEREST OF VIRGINIA 257 


mountains.’’ In this section of Virginia the land 
is hilly, and there are many small mountains. 
Sometimes several are together; again there is 
one alone. Then, farther into the Piedmont the 
mountains are higher, until the Peaks of Otter 
tower over all the others. These rolling hills are 
covered with ripening grain, cattle graze near 
the shady streams which rise in the Blue Ridge, 
and for miles the green grass and rare mountain 
flowers make a perfect picture. 

Just as tidewater must ever be connected with 
the birth of America, so Piedmont will be with 
the building of the nation. It was the home of 
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Patrick Henry, 
Marshall, Clark, and many others who did much 
to build our republic. Here lived the Randolphs, 
the Riveses, the Barbours, the Taylors, the 
Clays, who carried on the work so well begun. 
It has been said that the country around Char¬ 
lottesville has given more presidents, statesmen, 
jurists, and foreign diplomats than any other 
section in the United States. 

Almost every foot of land in Piedmont has 
close ties with Revolutionary and Civil War 
days. Through Orange into Culpeper is the old 
plank road over which so many Virginians 
marched to Chancellorsville, Bull Run, and 
other places sacred to all who love Virginia. 


258 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

From these hills came Nancy Eanghorne, the 
first woman to sit in England’s law-making 
body, the House of Parliament. She visits her 
old home, Mirador, very often. 

Piedmont, where many of our Presidents 
were born and bred, is the summer home of 
President Hoover. He has built a lodge high on 
the rugged peak of the Blue Ridge in Madison 
County, at the entrance to the Shenandoah Na¬ 
tional Park. This camp is two thousand feet or 
more up in the forest; so high that it looks like 
an eagle’s nest to those at the foot of the moun¬ 
tain. 

The President’s nearest neighbors are the 
mountain folk—people who never have been out 
of the hollows. They have never seen a train or 
heard its whistle; they have never listened to a 
radio or talked over the telephone; electric lights 
are unknown. Sometimes a flying machine is 
seen, but it is so high it is just another bird to 
them. The mountaineers do not know how to 
read and to write. No one knows how or when 
they settled there. Some persons think their fore¬ 
fathers were the pioneers who tried to make the 
trip west. They have lived close to nature and 
forgotten all else. They have one- and two-room 
cabins, in which large families live. 

To-day roads into the Shenandoah National 


HISTORICAL INTEREST OF VIRGINIA 259 


Park are being built across these mountains. 
To-morrow these simple fearless folk will be no 
more. On the other side of these rugged moun¬ 
tains are the homes of many of the builders of 



Apple Orchard in Bloom 

our nation, as well as the University of Virginia, 
more than a hundred years old. 

Following the trail of Governor Spottswood 
and his Knights of the Golden Horse Shoe, one 
is at the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 
Spread out below is the Valley, so beautiful to 





260 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

the red man that he called it Shenandoah, 
Daughter of the Stars. 

No section of Virginia is more fertile than 
this valley, surrounded by high mountain walls 
and crossed by five rivers. These add much to 
the richness of the soil. Well-tilled farms and 
beautiful orchards are everywhere. Wheat is 
the main crop, but shiploads of cattle and apples 
are sent to Europe and South America. 

From this lovely country, rich in mountains, 
rivers, and plains, came many of our great pio¬ 
neers. The Shenandoah Valley gave Virginia 
and the nation Sam Houston, Cyrus McCor¬ 
mick, Woodrow Wilson, and Harry and Richard 
Byrd. In old Lexington are Washington and 
Lee University and Virginia Military Institute, 
two of Virginia’s historic colleges. 

For many years the Shenandoah Valley wore 
the deep scars of Civil War days, but it, like 
almost every other section of Virginia, has re¬ 
covered. The Valley is again Daughter of the 
Stars, with hills, rills, and oaks as beautiful as 
they were in the red man’s time and over all a 
spirit of progress it has never known before. 

The Appalachian Mountains are high and 
strong and rugged in Southwest Virginia. The 
climate is not so mild as it is in other sections. 
The winters are longer, and more snow falls. 


HISTORICAL INTEREST OF VIRGINIA 261 

The soil is good for crops, but cattle-raising is a 
greater industry. Herds of cows graze near 
swift-running streams. 

On the mountain sides the trees grow larger 
and closer together. Lumbering is a big business. 



Coal Piers 

Down in the earth there are rich mines of coal 
and iron. Many thousand tons of coal are taken 
from these mines. It is sent to all parts of the 
United States and much of it is placed on ships 
sailing from Norfolk and Newport News to for¬ 
eign lands. 

In Southwest Virginia there are many health- 
giving springs. People go to these places just 



262 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

to drink the sulphur, iron, and other mineral 
waters. Hollins, before it became a school, was 
a summer resort. This was because of the beauty 
of the scenery and the sulphur springs of Bote¬ 
tourt County. Long before the stagecoaches took 
young women to school at Hollins, they took men 
and women to Botetourt Springs to drink its 
healing waters. 

The first settlers called the land that jutted 
out to meet them when they came from the Old 
to the New World, Cape Henry, after the king’s 
son. Just across on the other side of the water is 
another cape. This one they called Cape Charles, 
after the king’s second son. Cape Charles was so 
far away from the mainland of Virginia that 
even the Indians were not always members of 
the same tribe as those in tidewater. The water, 
Chesapeake Bay, was wide enough to keep them 
apart. The name itself is the Indian meaning 
Great Water. 

Many interesting things have happened in the 
Bay. Of course, the Godspeed, the Sarah Con¬ 
stant, and the Discovery sailed between the 
capes and into the Bay to make the first settle¬ 
ment on the James. At a later time the French 
fleet entered the Bay and sailed up the York 
River to help us win at Yorktown. On this bay 
the great battle between the Merrimac and the 


HISTORICAL INTEREST OF VIRGINIA 263 


Monitor took place. Both sides claimed the vic¬ 
tory. It was during this battle of the Civil War 
that war vessels took on a new form. In the 
World War German ships found safety as they 
cruised into the Chesapeake Bay. From its ports 
many of our boys went over to help our Allies. 

Across the Chesapeake Bay from Fort Mon¬ 
roe is the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the “Land 
of Plenty. ” Here the climate is mild and pleas¬ 
ant. The land is as level as the sea. The soil is 
very rich. The Eastern Shore is known for the 
tine potatoes and the sweet strawberries shipped 
to all parts of the country. 

Chincoteague, a little island lying along the 
Atlantic coast, is called by its Indian name. It 
is interesting, not because of scenery or soil or 
crop, but because of its wild horses. A story goes 
that long ago some ponies were brought from 
Spain. The ship was wrecked near this island, 
and the ponies swam ashore. They are marked 
differently from other horses in Virginia; so the 
story must be true. Once a year these ponies are 
rounded up, and people from miles around go to 
buy them. 

Up in the Northern Neck of Virginia the 
Washingtons, Lees, and Masons lived. Beautiful 
Fredericksburg is sitting quietly on the banks 
of the Rappahannock rich only in golden mem- 


264 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

ories. It was the home of the Washingtons and 
of John Paul Jones. John Marshall’s boyhood 
was passed just outside the village. James Mon¬ 
roe had his first law office here and began the 
work which made him President. 

Across the river is Wakefield, the birthplace 
of George Washington. Farther up, near Vir¬ 
ginia’s border, is Arlington, where Robert E. 
Lee was living when the Civil War began. He 
was here when Lincoln asked him to take com¬ 
mand of the Federal troops. This great honor 
he refused, and then he cast in his lot with the 
Confederacy. Federal forces took his home for 
headquarters. Since that time it has been used 
for a national cemetery. 

Not far away is Gunston, the old home of 
George Mason, who wrote Virginia’s Constitu¬ 
tion and Declaration of Rights. Washington and 
Mason were great friends. They would ride over 
the Indian trails, or paddle down the Potomac 
to visit each other, to talk about the new govern¬ 
ment or their crops. 

Alexandria, just this side of the District of 
Columbia, is said to have been laid out by the 
Fairfaxes and the Washingtons. There are many 
places here that make us feel proud of Virginia 
and Virginia’s part in making the nation. Car¬ 
lyle House is built on the site of an old stone fort. 


HISTORICAL INTEREST OF VIRGINIA 265 


This was the meeting place of Washington and 
Braddock. 

Within a few miles of Alexandria, high up on 
the Potomac, is Mount Vernon, the home of 
George Washington. 


CHAPTER XXXVII 
VIRGINIA GOVERNMENT 

The form of Virginia’s government has 
changed very little since 1619. We do not get onr 
officers and make our laws in the same way, 
however. The governor is elected by the people. 
For four years he is the business head of the 
state. In 1926 the people made a law which was 
called the short ballot. This gave the governor 
of Virginia more work and more power than he 
had ever had. Many officers who had always been 
elected by the voters are now named by the 
governor. 

The General Assembly is made up .of two 
houses, as it was in the early days. Virginia is 
divided into nine districts. Each district has a 
certain number of persons to represent it in the 
House of Delegates in Richmond. This number 
is based on the number of people living in the 
district. In the places where people live close to¬ 
gether there are always more representatives 
than in places where they live far apart. There 
are one hundred members in the House of Dele- 
266 


VIRGINIA GOVERNMENT 267 

gates. The other body is called the Senate; it 
used to be the royal Council. There are now 
forty members of the Virginia Senate. These 
people are elected by the voters of Virginia to 
make the laws for the state. 

It is the General.Assembly that makes the 
laws, and the governor must see that they are 
carried out. But there is a State Constitution 
that tells clearly the rights and duties of all, and 
no law can be made that interferes with the State 
Constitution. To settle any disputes that may 
come up, there is a third body called the Court. 
The Court’s business is to see that the General 
Assembly makes no laws to which the Constitu¬ 
tion would object. Virginia and all other states 
of the Union must make laws that agree with the 
rules of the Constitution of the United States. So 
good was this Constitution that Madison helped 
to write, that in all these years only nineteen 
changes have been made. 

There are one hundred counties in Virginia. 
Each one has officers and courts of its own. 
Towns become cities when they have as many as 
ten thousand persons. Then they can make cer¬ 
tain laws for themselves. When they are large, 
they can have the kind of democratic govern¬ 
ment they like best. Richmond, the capital, has a 


268 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

mayor and two bodies of the city council. All 
the members are elected by tbe people. 

Norfolk has what is called the city manager 
form of government, and there are only five men 
on the city council. These men are elected by the 
people, and they name the city manager. He 
directs the work of the city and is held responsi¬ 
ble for naming good people to fill all positions. 

Staunton was the first city in the United 
States to have the city manager form of govern¬ 
ment. Charles Ashburner, of Virginia, formed 
this plan and was Staunton’s first city manager. 
Now many cities in many states have been given 
this right by their legislatures. It makes for 
good government and many improvements. The 
city manager is to a city what our governor is 
to Virginia. The city manager has much power 
and can do much good. The people have to be 
sure that they have a fine man to fill the place. 

Virginia sends a representative from each of 
the districts of the state to sit in the House of 
Representatives and two to the Senate at Wash¬ 
ington. They always look out for the interest and 
the welfare of Virginia in this great law-making 
body of the United States. 

Honorable Claude A. Swanson of Danville 
has represented Virginia in the Senate since 


VIRGINIA GOVERNMENT 269 



1910. To have stayed there as long as that shows 
what an excellent record he has made. 

Honorable Carter Glass 
went to Congress in 1902. 

He has served Virginia 
ever since that time, but 
not always in Congress. 

President Wilson made 
him Secretary of the 
Treasury in the Cabinet. 

It was then that Carter 
Glass worked out the Fed¬ 
eral banking system. By 
means of this, the wealth 
of the nation is always well 
taken care of. There is no 
chance of a money panic 
in the national banks of 
the United States. 

With the new business 
plan of government for 
Virginia, worked out by 
Harry Flood Byrd, Vir¬ 
ginia never faced a fairer 
future. She has a very Norfolk’s Mace 
small state debt and is 
progressing rapidly. 

In the early days the flag of England was the 





270 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


flag of Virginia. For many years she wanted no 
other. The royal seals and flags that England 
used were good enough for her devoted colony, 
Virginia. 

To show the power of the kings, some one 
walked before them carrying a mace, a long 
staff with a heavy head. At first it was made of 
stone. If any one did not do as the king wished, 
his mace-bearer would reach over and hit the 
man on the head. 

As time passed, England had a mace made of 
silver. She did not hit the people over the heads 
with it; it was the sign of royal authority. Until 
this very day, when the governing body of Eng¬ 
land opens, some one brings in the mace. When 
England gave Virginia some power to govern 
herself, she sent a mace to the Virginia House 
of Burgesses. It was used until the Revolution. 

When the call for men sounded in 1776, peo¬ 
ple did not want to even see the mace any more. 
They feared that if it were here, some day some¬ 
body else might want to become king. It was 
melted, and the silver was made into a drinking 
cup. 

There is another mace in Virginia. It was 
given to Norfolk by Governor Dinwiddie in 
1754 as a sign of his favor and love. Norfolk had 


VIRGINIA GOVERNMENT 271 

become an important port and was carrying on 
much trade with England. 

Even though the General Assembly ordered 
the mace of Virginia melted, Norfolk held on 
to hers. It was hidden at Kempsville when Nor¬ 
folk was burned during the Revolutionary War. 
During the Civil War it was placed in the hearth 
of an old house. Norfolk has it still. It is taken 
out of the vault on great celebrations and car¬ 
ried at the head of the parade. 

When the General Assembly ordered the mace 
sold, they made a flag and a seal for public 
papers. Everything that had carried the Eng¬ 
lish seal or stamp now had to have one of 
Virginia’s. 

The flag of Virginia was ordered when she 
became independent, that is, free to do as she 
wished as to taxes, education, religion. The Gen¬ 
eral Assembly said: “It shall be a deep blue field 
with a circular white center of the same mate¬ 
rial. Upon this circle shall be painted or embroi¬ 
dered to show on both sides alike, the coat of 
arms of the State, and there shall be a white silk 
fringe on the outer edge, furthermost from the 
flag staff.” The same flag and the same seal are 
still in use. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII 
VIRGINIA INDUSTRIES 

Virginia lias always been known as an agri¬ 
cultural colony. As time passed, she continued 
to raise crops and cattle. Tobacco was the money 
used. People were paid in pounds of tobacco. It 
was not even necessary to have a bank, and 
although Virginia was settled in 1607, it was 
not until nearly two hundred years later that a 
bank was even needed. Then one was established 
by Washington at Alexandria. 

As for industries, there had been no need of 
them. The raw materials from Virginia were ex¬ 
changed for manufactured things, first from 
England and later from our own states. Then, 
at the end of the war, everything was changed. 
It was impossible to till the soil as it had been 
tilled. So Virginians began to look to industries. 
For thirty years her farm output grew smaller 
and smaller until it was not even a third of what 
it was before the slaves were freed. In 1900 there 
were few plants of any kind in the state. Flour, 

272 


VIRGINIA INDUSTRIES 273 

meal, tobacco, and lumber were the greatest 
industries. 

Twenty-five years later the value of the indus¬ 
tries that came to Virginia was greater than 
the value of those which came to any other state. 


Sledding Tobacco near Norfolk 

The rayon mills of the state make two-thirds of 
the rayon made in the United States. The largest 
of these mills are at Hopewell, Roanoke, Orange, 
Covington, and Waynesboro. Virginia has be¬ 
come the rayon center of the world. These plants 
bring money and give work to many. Tobacco is 
still the leading product, and there are large fac¬ 
tories for making cigarettes and cigars. Rich- 






274 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


mond has the largest cigar factory in the world, 
as it has the largest wood-making factory and 
the largest baking-powder factory. Shipbuilding 
is another great industry in Virginia. Norfolk 
and Newport News have big shipyards. The 
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock 
Company has launched the Virginia, the sister 



Battleships at Anchor off Old Point Comfort 


ship of the California . It is the largest passen¬ 
ger ship ever built in the United States. The 
Arizona, a United States warship, has been fin¬ 
ished, and plans are being made to build a giant 
airship. 

Hopewell has the Allied Chemical and Dye 
Corporation. This, like the rayon plants, brings 
work for many thousands of people. Ford has 
a big assembling plant at Norfolk. Norfolk was 



VIRGINIA INDUSTRIES 275 

selected because of the land and water location. 
The mining interests of Virginia are great. Ford 
has bought a gold mine not far from Fredericks¬ 
burg. It had not been worked before for lack of 
money. Trainloads of coal come from southwest¬ 
ern Virginia. This coal runs the wheels of many 



Harvesting Peanuts 


factories, and much of it is shipped to foreign 
lands. 

Besides tobacco, other products of Virginia 
have won world favor. Far and wide, people 
like to eat Lynnhaven and Seatag oysters, Nor¬ 
folk spots, Suffolk peanuts, Albemarle pippins, 
Eastern Shore potatoes, Nomini tomatoes, Han¬ 
over watermelons, Gordonsville chickens, Vir¬ 
ginia yams, and Smithfield hams. 



276 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

On the other side of the mountains there are 
great wheatfields, cornfields, hayfields, orchards, 
and stock farms. Pulaski County has more thor¬ 
oughbred stock than any 
other place in the United 
States. Northampton and 
Accomac grow better 
crops per acre than any 
other trucking district of 
the United States. 

The seventeen public 
utilities in Virginia, at 
Governor Byrd’s invita¬ 
tion, have met with a 
committee to make plans 
for taking their light- 
and-power lines into the 
country sections of the 
state. They will furnish 
the current to farms and 
small out-of-the-way 
towns. The cost will not 
be greater than it is in the larger towns. This will 
have a far-reaching result in building up Vir¬ 
ginia farm life. Not only will there be brighter 
and cleaner light without so much work, but 
much of the farm labor will be done by elec¬ 
tricity. Already ice is made in the refrigerator, 




VIRGINIA INDUSTRIES 


277 


food is cooked, rooms are warmed, and farming 
implements are operated by electricity. It saves 
time and labor. Both are precious to Virginians, 
since it is very hard to get people to work on 
farms. Bringing electricity to the country will 
mean that life will be more attractive in the 
country, and not so many of the young men and 
women will leave the country for the city. Agri¬ 
culture is the backbone of the state’s wealth. The 
move made by the Virginia Agricultural Com¬ 
mission to take electricity to rural sections is 
one of the great forward steps that the state is 
taking. 

The Rockefeller Foundation is rebuilding 
Williamsburg. They plan to spend many mil¬ 
lions of dollars to make Williamsburg, the colo¬ 
nial capital of Virginia, live again. The work 
has gone forward under the direction of Dr. 
Goodwin of Burton Parish. It is hardly correct 
to class it as an industry; yet it brings money 
into the state and gives work to many hands. 

There is hardly any part of Virginia that is 
not touched by activity of some sort which will 
bring prosperity and happiness to Virginia. 

The Virginia of to-morrow will not be the 
Virginia of to-day. In the getting of so much 
wealth, we must see that she does not lose the 
spirit of her noble past. 


CHAPTER XXXIX 


VIRGINIA SCHOOLS 

With the new century, the idea of public edu¬ 
cation took root in Virginia. The General As¬ 
sembly passed a law that high schools should be 
opened in the rural districts, and that the state 
treasury would help pay the cost. 

From that time public education has in¬ 
creased rapidly. Richmond, Roanoke, Lynch¬ 
burg, Norfolk, Newport News, Winchester, 
Danville, Petersburg, and other cities have a 
public-school system that will compare favor¬ 
ably with any in the United States. 

Virginia is more than seventy per cent rural. 
In spite of many difficulties, Mr. Harris Hart, 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, has done 
many things to give these districts better 
schools. Now many of them have a regular 
course of study, teachers of normal school train¬ 
ing, vocational and agricultural departments. 
Schools are far apart, but school busses take the 
pupils to school and bring them home again. 

Several districts have passed laws that all 

278 


VIRGINIA SCHOOLS 279 

children between the ages of seven and four¬ 
teen must go to school. It is to the interest of 
the Commonwealth that all her boys and girls 
will grow up to be good citizens of Virginia. To 
be a good citizen, one must have at least a public- 
school education. 

The directors of the public-school system of 
Virginia are a superintendent and a hoard of 
education who are named by the governor. It is 
their business to see that Virginia’s public- 
school system serves the people and the state. 

The University of Virginia is the capstone of 
public education in Virginia. People who are 
interested in the University give many thou¬ 
sands of dollars to help in carrying on the 
splendid work begun by Jefferson. With this aid 
and that which the General Assembly gives, the 
University not only is one of the most beautiful 
in the world, but does some of the best work. 
Virginia also gives money to the Polytechnic In¬ 
stitute at Blacksburg, the Military Institute at 
Lexington, William and Mary College at Wil¬ 
liamsburg, and the state teachers’ colleges at 
Farmville, Harrisonburg, Fredericksburg, and 
Radford. 

There are many other very tine' colleges that 
do not get any help from the state. These are 
usually owned either by churches or privately. 


CHAPTER XL 


WOODROW WILSON 

1856-1924 

Woodrow Wilson, the son of a Presbyterian 
minister, was born in Staunton before the war 
between the states. Like 
all Virginians of his time, 
he had to struggle to get 
any schooling. The private 
school had disappeared. 
Young Wilson had much 
of his early schooling in 
his own home. He worked 
for a time and studied 
while he worked. Wood- 
row Wilson taught a one- 
room school for which he 
was paid thirty dollars a 
month. He loved books, 
and he loved children. The one-room school was 
a happy place with such a leader. Wilson saved 
the money he earned in this way and went to 
280 




WOODROW WILSON 


281 


Princeton University. He left a splendid record 
there. Then he returned to his native state and 
went to the University of Virginia to study law. 

With a Master’s degree from Princeton and 
a degree of Doctor of Laws from the Univer¬ 
sity of Virginia, Wilson was ready to practice 
law. He tried it for one year. It was not what 
he wanted. Law did not suit the idealist, Wood- 
row Wilson. He gave up the practice of law to 
be a teacher. This time it was not in a one-room 
country school. He taught in college and univer¬ 
sity. History was his subject. Teaching others 
of the brave, loyal heroes of past ages, he came 
to be a hero of the twentieth century. He taught 
the meaning of true government and became a 
great statesman. Teaching others the facts of 
the past, trying to lead his students to act nobly 
and live unselfishly, Woodrow Wilson became 
the world’s greatest idealist. 

When he was president of Princeton Univer¬ 
sity, the people of New Jersey made this Vir¬ 
ginia boy their governor. When he was governor 
of New Jersey, the people of the United States 
made him our President. 

He went to the White House in Washington 
just before the World War. This learned Presi¬ 
dent did not believe in war. He knew from his 
studies of all nations that war meant only blood- 


282 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

shed, suffering, loss of life, and heartaches. 

Many firms in the United States were send¬ 
ing food, guns, and Red Cross supplies to the 
Old World. These firms sent supplies to any one 
who would buy them or needed them. They did 
not take sides. Then the Germans began to sink 
our ships. President Wilson sent note after note 
to them, asking them not to destroy our ships. 
For a time Germany made excuses when a ship 
had been sunk, and piany innocent people lost 
their lives. At last the President went before 
Congress and told them of the rights of nations 
to the free lanes of the sea. This was followed by 
our entering the war on the side of the Allies. 

When the Peace Conference was called, Presi¬ 
dent Wilson and his committee went to Ver¬ 
sailles, France. So interested was he in peace 
that he visited London, Paris, Rome, and other 
European cities to tell them about his peace plan. 
His idea was to form a League of Nations that 
would outlaw war and make peace everlast¬ 
ing. 

Woodrow Wilson, the statesman, pleading for 
the freedom of nations and perfect peace, was 
no match for some of the politicians around the 
peace table. The Old World was used to the old 
ways of the secret meetings. They could not un¬ 
derstand the honest, straightforward American 


WOODROW WILSON 


283 


President. After many a struggle they agreed 
to a League of Nations. 

The delegates of the warring nations went 
home and laid the plans before their own law¬ 
making bodies. Most of them thought highly of 
the plan for world peace. 

President Wilson’s own country failed him. 
Our Congress refused to have anything to do 
with it; he toured the country and pleaded the 
cause before the people. In this struggle his 
health failed, and soon after he left the White 
House, he died. 

The League of Nations lives and grows 
stronger as the years pass. The United States 
is coming to see its great worth to the world. 
Some of our great men go to all the meetings 
now, and Wilson, though he is dead, has won a 
great victory for humanity. Woodrow Wilson, 
teacher, author, statesman, and twenty-eighth 
President of the United States, was greater than 
any man of his time. 

The pictures of three great Presidents are 
often seen together. They are Washington, the 
Virginian, Father of his Country, who fought 
for the rights of the colonies; Lincoln, the grand¬ 
son of a Virginian, who fought for the rights of 
all people; and Woodrow Wilson, the Virginian, 
who fought for the rights of all nations and 
peace for the world. 


CHAPTER XLI 


RICHARD EVELYN BYRD 
1888 - 

Virginians are known for the part they have 
taken in making the nation and in adding more 
land to the first settlement, Virginia. In our 
own day, a young man horn and bred at Win¬ 
chester, in the Shenandoah Valley, is finding 
new lands. 

In the past few years, much has been written 
of the Byrds of Virginia, two brothers, ex-Grov- 
ernor Harry Flood Byrd and Rear-Admiral 
Richard Evelyn Byrd, the aviator. They trace 
their family tree back to the family that settled 
at Westover. These first Byrds, who helped gov¬ 
ern the colony, who were the learned men of 
their time, founded the city of Richmond. The 
Byrds left Westover and went to the Valley. 
The Byrd hoys played together and spent their 
boyhood in and about Winchester, the second 
oldest city in Virginia. 

When he was twelve years old, Dick had a 

284 


BICHARD EVELYN BYRD 285 

longing to see the world. Tickets were bought, 
and Dick Byrd sailed for the Philippines to visit 
a friend. Dick did not want to go home from 
the Philippines by 
the shortest way, 
but took the 
steamer that car¬ 
ried him all the 
way around the 
world. Then he 
was sure that no 
other life would 
suit him except 
that of sailing on 
the dark blue sea. 

The trip was just 
as thrilling to a 
boy of twelve as 
any of his later 
years have been to the man. 

Plying was beginning to be talked about. Dick 
Byrd thought he would try that out. So he made 
a pair of wings, went up on top of the barn, and 
tried to fly to the sky. With a heavy thud he fell 
to the ground. All the bruises and cuts did not 
stop him from dreaming of flying. 

He went to Washington on a visit, and every 
day he went out to the aviation field. His one 




286 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

wish was to get into one of the planes. An avia¬ 
tor had noticed the boy. He saw that he was 
there often and asked many intelligent ques¬ 
tions. So one day he took Dick up with him. 

At first Dick was a little frightened, but before 
he landed, he loved to fly in the air. Daily he 
made visits to the field and learned all about 
planes. He loved the air, he loved the sea, and 
he knew that his life would not be passed on 
land alone. He began the real study of flying 
while he was in active service in the navy. 

When the World War began, Richard Evelyn 
Byrd wanted to go to France. The navy thought 
that he was not strong enough, and would not let 
him go. He was given some mechanical work on 
instruments to be used in transatlantic flights. 
Some one was wrong, or his health has improved 
very much, for he has since stood weather 
changes that few people could stand. 

Byrd is one who will dare anything as long as 
the world holds a secret. There were no more 
Indians to fight, and there were no more lands 
to discover. Only the air was left. He planned to 
carry the Stars and Stripes by air to the top of 
the world. A restless spirit to dare and to do is 
in him. But that is not all. The really important 
thing about him is that he plans the trips and 
directs everything about them. He has been able 


RICHARD EVELYN BYRD 


287 


to get the best pilots to steer his ships wherever 
he wants to go. They have faith in Byrd’s plans. 
Others besides his pilots have faith in him. Thou¬ 
sands of dollars have been spent to get every¬ 
thing that this great explorer has needed for 
himself and for his men. The National Geo¬ 
graphic Society gave him knowledge that made 
his trip possible. 

The greatest flight that he has made was 
across the Atlantic to France. Within three and 
a half years he has visited both the top and the 
bottom of the globe. Byrd flew to the North Pole 
May 9, 1926. The distance was about sixteen 
hundred miles. The flight was made in about fif¬ 
teen hours, and no stop was made. 

As soon as he returned, he began to make 
ready for the trip to the South Pple. This 
was a more dangerous trip than the one to the 
North Pole. Some people lived in the Arctic re¬ 
gions, and there were summer vegetables. In the 
Antarctic not a plant, not a person, not even an 
animal can be seen. It is so very cold even in 
summer that nothing can live there. 

Commander Dick Byrd had with him seventy- 
seven men. It took three ships to carry the 
planes and supplies to the base. There were 
pilots and mechanics for the planes, radio opera¬ 
tors, moving picture photographers, and scien- 


288 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 


lists. Never did a party set out so well cared for 
as this one. They went as far as they could on 
land and water. Then they flew over the moun¬ 
tains of ice as solid as land across the South Pole 
and hack again. 

Hats off to Dick Byrd, the greatest explorer 
of modern times! What will this brave son of 
Virginia find to do next? 


289 


THINGS TO DO 

A Game You May Like to Play 

Write on your paper a person, a place, or a date that you 
think of with each name. Each correct answer counts 2. 

1. William and Mary College 

2. Public schools of Virginia. 

3. The University of Virginia 

4. Piedmont 

5. Hampton Roads 

6. Spottswood Trail 

7. Shenandoah Valley 

8. Yorktown 

9. Eastern Shore 

The highest possible score is 18; the lowest is 0. 

Things You May Like to Do 

1. Make a booklet of present-day Virginia. Get news¬ 
paper and magazine clippings, pictures, etc. 

2. Make a frieze of travel from colonial days to the pres¬ 
ent time. Dramatize each one of the panels for a civics 
club meeting. 

3. Draw a floor map of Virginia and indicate historical 
shrines and great centers of industry. 

4. Pretend that you are taking your class on an auto¬ 
mobile tour of your county. Visit the seat of govern¬ 
ment, the big schools, the Chamber of Commerce, and 
any historical places thalj the class suggests. 

5. End the term’s work with a pageant of Virginia his¬ 
tory. The class could be divided into sections, and 
each group made responsible for a certain period. 

6. Rebuild your county fair. Make exhibits of the in¬ 
dustries, etc. 


290 VIRGINIA AND THE VIRGINIANS 

Things You May Like to Have 

1. A collection of pictures showing the geographical and 
historical places and people of Virginia. 

2. An exhibit of historical things that your friends might 
let you take to school to show the class. 

3. A portfolio of your county that will include legends 
and poems, geography, native plants and animals, 
local history, and government. Begin with settlement 
and end with present-day activities. It will be more 
interesting to have the entire class take part in the 
making by collecting material, writing articles, col¬ 
lecting pictures, contributing original poems and illus¬ 
trations. The Extension Department of the University 
of Virginia and the State Chamber of Commerce will 
be able to give you some help. 

4. A filing cabinet to keep records of class excursions, 
the things you have made, the books you have read, 
magazine and newspaper clippings, and anything that 
might help another class who will study Virginia. 

5. A bulletin board for works of interest from either the 
class or other sources. 

6. A book corner where you may keep other books that 
tell about Virginia and the part Virginia played in 
settling the country and making the United States a 
great nation. 

For Your Book Corner 

1. Bailey, Caroline S. Boys and Girls of Pioneer Days. 
Chicago, A. Flanagan Company. 

2. Baldwin, James. Fifty Famous Americans. New 
York, American Book Company. 

3. Bass, Florence. Stories of Pioneer Life. Boston, 
D. C. Heath & Company. 


FOR YOUR BOOK CORNER 291 

4. Blaisdell, A. F. & Ball, F. K. Log Cabin Days. 
Boston, Little, Brown & Company. 

5. Cooke, John E. Stories of the Old Dominion. New 
York, American Book Company. 

6. Dearborn, Frances R. How the Indians Lived. Bos¬ 
ton, Ginn & Company. 

7. DuPuy, William A. Odd Jobs of Uncle Sam. Bos¬ 
ton, D. C. Heath & Company. 

8. Eggleton, Edward. Stories of Great Americans. 
New York, American Book Company. 

9. Gordy, W. F. Leaders in Making America. New 
York, Charles Scribner’s Sons. 

10. Harris, J. C. Uncle Remus—His Songs and His 
.Sayings. New York, D. Appleton & Company. 

11. Nida, W. L. & S. H. Little White Chief. Chicago, 
A. Flanagan Company. 

12. Otis, James. Richard of Jamestown. New York, 
American Book Company. 

13. Page, Thomas N. Two Little Confederates. New 
York, Charles Scribner’s Sons. 

14. Pratt, F. M. Legends of the Red Children. New 
York, American Book Company. 

15. Pnmphrey, Margaret B. Stories of the Pilgrims. 
Chicago, Rand McNally and Company. 

16. Smith, Erlich. Our Virginia. Richmond, Virginia, 
State Publishing Company. 

17. Tappan, Eva M. American Stories. Boston, Hough¬ 
ton Mifflin Company. 

18. Warner, Gertrude C. Star Stories for Little Folks. 
New York, The Macmillan Company. 

19. Williamson, Mary L. Life of George Washington. 
Richmond, Virginia, Johnson Publishing Company. 

20. Wilson, G. L. Indian Hero Tales. New York, 
American Book Company. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR TEACHERS 

1. Bruce, Philip A. History of Virginia. New York, American 
Historical Society. 

2. Chandler, J. A. C. & Thames, T. B. Colonial Virginia. Rich¬ 
mond, Virginia, Times Dispatch Company. 

3. Dynes, Sarah Ann. Socializing tine Child. New York, Silver, 
Burdett & Company. 

4. Hart, Albert B. Source Readers in American History. New 
York, The Macmillan Company. 

5. Kendall, C. N. & Stryker, F. E. Helps for Teaching History 
in the Grammar Grades. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company. 

6. Marx, Ellie Marcus. Citizenship Training in Elementary 
Schools. Boston, D. C. Heath and Company. 

7. Meade, William. Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of 
Virginia. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company. 

8. Page, Thomas Nelson. The Old Dominion. New York, Charles 
Scribner’s Sons. 

9. Squires, W. H. T. The Days of Yesteryear in Colony and 
Commonwealth. Portsmouth, Virginia, Printcraft Press. 

10. Tyler, Lyon G. Men of Mark in Virginia. Washington, Men 
of Mark. 

11. University of Virginia Students. Social Survey of Virginia 
Counties. Charlottesville, Virginia, University of Virginia. 

12. Wilstach, Paul. Tidewater Virginia. Indianapolis, Bobbs- 
Merrill Company. 

13. Clark, M. C. “A Study in Testing Historical Sense in Fourth 
and Fifth Grades.” Historical Outlook, XIV, 1923. 

WHERE TO GET ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL 

1. Brown’s Famous Pictures. 

George P. Brown & Company, 38 Lovett Street, Beverly, Mass. 

2. Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia. 

F. E. Compton Company, 58 East Washington Street, Chi¬ 
cago, Illinois. 

3. R. H. Gabriel. Pageant of America. 

Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut. 

4. Keystone Views. 

Keystone View Company, Incorporated, Meadville, Penn. 

5. Old South Leaflets Series. 

Old South Meeting House, Boston, Massachusetts. 

6. Perry Pictures. 

Perry Picture Company, Malden, Massachusetts. 

7. Victor Records— Songs and Spirituals of Virginia. 

Victor Talking Machine Company, Camden, New Jersey. 

292 


INDEX 


Adam Thoroughgood House, 95- 
97 

Alexandria, 261 

Appalachian Mountains, 260, 261 
Appomattox, 224 
Arlington, 235, 249 
Articles of Confederation, 112 
Ashburner, Charles, 268 
Atlantic cable, 240 

Bacon, Nathaniel, 14, 19-24 
Bacon’s Rebellion, 14 
Berkeley, Sir William, 14, 21, 22, 

23, 24 

Blackbeard, 28 

Blue Ridge, 29, 168 

Book Corner, for your, 290, 291 

Botetourt County, 262 

Brandon, 198 

Bull Run, 257 

Byrd, Harry Flood, 269, 284 

Byrn, Richard Evelyn, 284-288 

Byrd, William I, 255 

California, 203 
Cape Charles, 262 
Cape Henry, 4, 253, 262 
Cavaliers, 14, 62, 66, 253 
Chanco, 13 
Chancellorsville, 257 
Charlottsville, 159, 257 
Charter, 10 

Chesapeake Bay, 262, 263 
Chickahominy, 45 
Children, of the Indians, 41-43; 
of the Cavaliers, 77, 83-85; of 
the pioneers, 178-179 
Chincoteague, 263 

293 


Church of England, 121-122 
Clark, George Rogers, 182-187 
Clark, William, 188-196 
Clay, Henry, 227-231 
Colonial Times, 61-106; planta¬ 
tions, 61-69; customs, 74-81; 
mode of travel, 80-84; institu¬ 
tions, 83-94; schools, 84-87; 
churches, 87-90; government, 
90-94; houses, 95-100 
Columbus, 35 
Congress, 114 

Constitution of the United 
States, 90, 114-115 
Cornwallis, Commander, 18, 111 
Cotton, 74 
Curl’s Neck, 14 
Custis, Martha, 130 

Declaration of Independence, 
109, 139, 140 
Dinwiddi, Governor, 270 
Discovery, the, 3, 262 
Dress, of the Indians, 39; of the 
Cavaliers, 78-80 
Dutch, 10 

Eastern Shore, 14, 263 
Elizabeth, Queen, 1 
Elkton, 30 

England, 1-3, 5, 26, 47, 63, 105 
107, 108, 140, 170 
English Settlement, 7 
Episcopal Church, 88 
Explorers, Spottswood, 25-31; 
Clark, 182-187; Lewis & Clark, 
188-196; Houston, 202-209; 
Byrd, 284-288 
Ezekiel, Moses, 242-245 



294 


INDEX 


Father of the Constitution, 144 
Father of His Country, 133 
Flag, 272 

For Your Book Corner, 290, 291 
Fort Henry, 179 
Fort Monroe, 262 
France, 16, 111, 157, 169, 198 
Fredericksburg, 125, 264 
French and Indian War, 16, 106, 
109 

Frontier, of Virginia, 4, 31; of 
the Union, 149, 150, 169, 170, 
171, 195 

Games to play, 32, 33, 60, 105- 
106, 166-167, 216, 246, 247, 289 
General Assembly, 123, 140, 159, 
164, 256, 266-268, 271 
George III, 3 
Glass, Carter, 269 
Gloucester, 50 
Godspeed , the, 3 

Government, 90, 91, 93, 113, 225, 
266-271 

Great Bridge, 163 
Guardian Spirit, 42 
Gunston Hall, 264 

Hampton, 11, 102 
Hampton Roads, 4, 214, 254 
Hanover County, 227 
Harrison, William Henry, 197- 
200 

Hart, Harris, 280 
Henrico, 11 

Henry, Patrick, 119-125 
Hill, A. P., 22 

Homes, of the Indians, 38-41; of 
the Jamestown Settlers, 63; of 
the Cavaliers, 63-68; of the 
pioneers, 175-176 
Hoover, Herbert, 258 
House of Burgesses, 91, 123 
Houston, Samuel, 202-209 

Independence, 18, 107-118 
Indians, traits and customs, 34- 
43; disposition, 34-36; reli¬ 


gion, 36-38; homes, 38-41; 
dress, 39; children, 41-43; with 
the white man, 42-48; to-day, 
48 

Indian Territory, 198 
Industries, in colonial days, 61- 
69; to-day, 272-277 

Jackson, Stonewall, 222; 234 
Jamestown, in 1607, 1-10; in 
1622, 12; in 1676, 14 
James River, 11, 45, 49, 253 
Jefferson, Thomas, 134-142 
John Marshall House, 48 
Johnston, Joseph, 222 
Jones, John Paul, 154-158 
Jouett, Jack, 159-162 

Kecoughtan, 102 
Knights of the Golden Horse¬ 
shoe, 30-31 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 111 
Landing, of the English, 4; of 
the Negroes, 10; of the women, 

11 

League of Nations, 283 
Lee, Francis Lightfoot, 101 
Lee, Richard Henry, 101 
Lee, Robert E., 101, 232-236 
Lewis, Meriwether, 188-196 
Lincoln, Abraham, 224 
London Company, 1, 2 
Louisiana, 117, 141, 150 

Mace, 270 

Madison, James, 143-146 
Madison, Dolly, 145 
Maps, historic spots along the 
James River, 63; United States 
after the Revolution, 113; 
Lewis and Clark’s route. 
194 

Marshall, John, 163-166 
Mason, George, 93, 264 
Massachusetts, 88 
Maury, Matthew Fontaine, 237- 
241 




INDEX 


295 


Mayflower, 88 

McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 211-215 
Merrimac and Monitor, 262, 263 
Mexico, 172 
Middle Plantation, 15 
Minutemen, 218 
Monroe, James, 147-153 
Monroe Doctrine, 117, 151 
Monticello, 138 
Montpelier, 143 
Mount Alexander, 30 
Mount George, 30 
Mount Vernon, 129 

Nansemond, 48 
National Observatory, 240 
Navy, the, 155-157, 238 
Negroes, 10, 72-74 
Nelson House, 65 
Newport, Admiral, 3 
Newports News, 254, 262 
Norfolk, 102, 254, 261, 270 
North Carolina, 1 
Northern Neck, 263, 264 
Northwest Territory, 187 

Old Dominion, 10-18, 62 
Orange County, 29 

Pamunkey, 46, 47 
Parsons Case, 121-123 
Pathfinder of the Seas, 237-247 
Peace, 11, 18, 48, 112, 283 
Peacemaker, the, 222 
Pickett, General, 234 
Piedmont, 168 

Pioneers, journey, 174; houses, 
175-176; women and children, 
177-179 
Pirates, 25 
Pocahontas, 45, 53-59 
Portsmouth, 254 
Powder Horn, 27 
Powhatan, 45, 49-53 
Presidents from Virginia: 
Washington, 125-133; Jeffer¬ 
son, 134-142; Madison, 143- 


146; Monroe, 147-153; Taylor, 
197-200; Harrison, 201-204; 
Tyler, 199-200; Wilson, 280- 
283 


Raleigh, Sir Walter, 1 
Raleigh Tavern, 74 
Rappahannock, 48 
Redcoats, 140 
Reed, Walter, 241-245 
Religious Liberty, 89-90 
Revolution, 109-123 
Richmond, 93, 104, 255 
Roanoke Island, 1 
Rolfe, John, 45, 58 
Roundheads, 20 

Sarah Constant, the, 61, 262 
Schools, in colonial days, 83-87; 

to-day, 278-279 
Scott, Winfield, 171-223 
Seal, 271 

Seer of Monticello, 142 
Settlement, story of, 1-10 
Shenandoah, Valley, 30, 260; 

park, 259, 260 

Slavery, in 1619, in 1774, in 
1787, in 1829, in 1850, in 
1860, 221-223 

Smith, Capt. John, 6-8, 50-51 
Southwest, 160-161 
Spain, 171-198, 202 
Spottswood, Alexander, 25-31 
Squaw, 39-40 
Stratford, 98-100 
Swanson, Claude A., 268, 269 


Tassantessus, 45 
Taxation, 18, 108, 140 
Taylor, Zachary, 201-204 
Tecumseh, 198 
Texas, 171, 205-209 
Thames, 3 

Things, to Do, 33, 60, 105, 106, 
167, 216, 247, 289 
Things, to Have, 290 




296 


INDEX 


Thirteen Colonies, 112, 149 
Tobacco, 73 
Totopotomoi, 45 
Tyler, John, 199-200; 224 


University of Virginia, 141 
United States Supreme Court, 
117 


Virginia, settlement, 1-10; Royal 
colony, 1-15; Indians, 34-60; 
colonial life and the nation, 
107-167; in the West, 168-173; 
in the war between the states, 
217-251; to-day, 252-291 
Virginia Dare, 3 
Virginia’s gift to the Union, 
116-117, 152-153, 165-170 
Virginia Military Institute, 260 


Wars: French and Indian, 16, 
106, 109; Revolution, 109-123; 
of 1812, 145-146; World, 281- 
282 

Wakefield, 264 
Washington, George, 125-133 
Washington, Lawrence, 128-129 
Washington and Lee University. 
236 

Westover, 97 

William and Mary College, 26, 
87, 102, 136, 148 
Williamsburg, 15, 136, 254 
Wilson, Woodrow, 280-283 
Wythe, George, 144-228 

Yellow Fever, 243 
Yorktown, 18, 111, 168 
York River, 29, 254 

Zane, Elizabeth, 180 






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